My Nine Years' War Sharp Practice mods get a further revision

It's been a while since I've had a chance to use my nice Lurkio late-17th century French and Anglo-Dutch armies, which were the inspiration for my Sharp Practice mods, which were published in the TooFatLardies 2017 Summer Special.

Since first seeing these mods in print, they have undergone a revision and some resulting changes. This was a chance to playtest those revisions again and see how things could be tightened up and clarified.

I must say, in passing that I am really pleased to see that Lurkio is continuing to operate under the aegis of Simon Hall's The Wargames Zone. It did look at one point like the company would cease to exist, but happily these terrific 15mm figures are still going to be produced.

In this game at the club last Sunday, I took command of the Anglo-Dutch army while Brian commanded the French.

The battle was an encounter between the two armies on the outskirts of the (fictional) Dutch town of Grolschbeek. The Anglo-Dutch were first on the field, with a cavalry brigade moving sharlpy towards the Grolschbeek junction. The aim was to secure the right flank before the French could deploy.

Elsewhere, a regiment of Dragoons took up a position in the gardens of a manor house on the Anglo-Dutch left flank. The !st Regiment of Foot (the Royal Scots) advanced, flanked by two Danish regiments of Foot. The Nassau Horse protected their right flank as they formed a defensive line.

The French began to advance across the main road into Grolschbeek, with the Rohan and Villeroy Horse supporting the Languedoc and Champagne regiments of Foot.

The Dragoons waited, relatively secure behind some hedges with a cornfield forming something of an obstacle to the French.

The English Horse began to deploy on the outskirts of Grolschbeek, behind the advance of the Nassau Horse.

Things began to get crowded as regiments in column and the artillery began to emerge from the Anglo-Dutch camp. The Anglo-Dutch Captain General Lord Lymeswold was finding it hard to get his Elite troops into position before the French advanced.

And here come the legions of Le Roi Soleil, under the command of Maréchal de France, le Duc de Cabecou.

The Dragoons began to fire on the advancing Régiment de Languedoc, supported by the Danish Fynske regiment. Lacking pikes, I hoped that these troops would be able to keep the French at arms length and avoid any Fisticuffs.

The Nassau Horse, perhaps being uncharacteristically impetuous charged into the Régiment du Lyonnais, sustaining casualties and shock.

They were repulsed with losses after a couple of rounds of combat. Elsewhere, the Danes were firing on the French Foot, with the Royal Scots waiting until they had an opponent within close range.

The Régiment de Languedoc took a lot of fire, suffering mounting shock and losses, compelling them to retire due to excess shock. Realising that they couldn't outflank the manor house, the French Horse moved to advance across the Anglo-Dutch left.

Having seen the Nassau Horse fail, both Woods' and Lumley's Horse moved to within charge distance of the French Horse. Woods' regiment came under musket fire, picking up Shock.

The Royal Scots poured musketry into the French Régiment de Champagne.

Finally, the English Foot Guards and Artillery move up towards the fighting. Lord Lymeswold directing the advance.

From the French side, the Anglo-Dutch centre begins to look menacing.

Maréchal de Cabecou sent the Régiment de Fimarcon Dragoons towards the French right, as the Gardes Françaises marched in line to fill a gap in the French line caused by the forced withdrawal of the Lyonnais Foot.

On the French left, the formidable Horse awaited the English charge. On the left of this brigade was the elite Régiment du Roi, in blue uniforms.

The two combats were bloody, with both English regiments coming off worse. Lumley's Horse suffered 50% losses and were compelled to retire back to the edge of Grolschbeek and were soon joined by Woods' Horse. However, they still protected the town, together with the remnants of the Nassau Horse.

The Anglo-Dutch centre was looking strong, with the French unable to make any headway against the effective musketry of the Danes and Scots.

At this point we decided to call a halt, because we were out of time.

What had I learnt from this game? 

Well, firstly the rule mods definitely do work for these large-scale encounters, especially with the amendments made since I first wrote and tested them. Secondly, the game does seem to give a reasonable brigade level simulation as opposed to the standard SP skirmish games. One might say that it is "Sharp Practice, Jim, but not as we know it".

I am a huge fan of Sharp Practice and the Shooting and Combat mechanisms are simple and effective and do translate well to use with larger units.

One thing that I think needs to happen is giving each brigade its own Deployment Point rather than having a single one for the entire army, because that leads to massive bottlenecks early on which prevent troops from deploying. The Dutch Garde Te Voet never really got anywhere near the battle.

I have rewritten my rule modifications, adding some clarifications, so I hope very soon to play through them again.

Escort Duty - an Imagi-nations AAR for Sharp Practice.

I hadn't played any games with my Syldavians and Bordurians for quite some time, so yesterday's game at the club was a welcome opportunity to get them on the table again. The game we played was Scenario Four: Escort Duty.

The map is taken from the Sharp Practice rulebook.

All the figures are Essex 15mm.

 

Deployment points

Borduria enters the table at either Point 1 or 2, rolling to see which with an equal chance of either. They place a secondary Fixed Deployment point there, as they have no Primary Deployment Point for this scenario. Roll a further D6 and half that total, rounding up. The Bordurian player now takes that many moves with his entire force.
       

The Syldavian player now rolls a D6 to see which Deployment Point they use. On a roll of 1 to 4 they place their Primary Deployment Marker within 6” of that point. On a 5 or 6 they choose whichever Point they wish. Any secondary Deployment Points are placed and the game now begins.

Objective

To win, The Bordurians must exit the table on the far edge with the convoy they are escorting. The Syldavians must capture the convoy. 

I decided that this encounter would feature the Freikorps Schtroumpf, and would be an event from the early days of Frans Schtroumpf's career as a soldier of fortune in the service of Constantine II, Autokrator of Borduria. 

Before the start of the campaign against Syldavia in 1754, the Freikorps Schtroumpf was stationed in the border city of Oilcanya, to the west of the River Djrinje on the plains to the north of the Zympathian Mountains. Syldavian raiding parties had been crossing the river from the Syldavia city of Turksi Bazar and attacking Bordurian merchant caravans. The Freikorps was ordered to move south and provide escorts for caravans along the Djrinje valley. In early April, Pukovnik (colonel) Schtroumpf was personally accompanying an escort patrol because he had business in the small town of Bugrit, several kilometres inland from the border.

Forces

Syldavia

3 x groups of 8 x Fusiliers Status III leader Status I leader

2 x groups of 6 x Pandur Skirmishers Status II leader

1 x group of 8 x Hussars Status II leader

1 x group of 8 x Dragoons Status II leader

1 x Ammuntion cart

The Syldavian Fusiliers are classed as Regulars and the Dragoons are Impact Cavalry.

Borduria

3 x groups of 8 x Freikorps Fusiliers Status III leader (Frans Schtroumpf) Status I leader

2 x groups of 6 x Hajduk Skirmishers Status II leader

1 x group of 8 x Freikorps Hussars Status II leader

1 x cannon with 5 x crew and Status I leader

1 x Musician

The Freikorps Fusiliers are classed as Conscripts and Volunteers and have the Aggressive characteristic. The Hussars have a fearsome reputation and have the Blood Curdling characteristic. This means that when charging into Fisticuffs each group of opponents must roll 1D6 per figure. Each roll of 6 inflicts 1 point of shock on the group.

I played the Bordurians and the Syldavians were jointly handled by Andy and John. 

The table looked like this. The buildings, walls and fences are mine, the rest of the terrain belongs to the club. Here is the view from the Bordurian entry point end of the table;

A general view;

The view from the town of Bugrit. The Syldavians would enter the table from the left of the town.

The Bordurian convoy entered from the far right of the table as one complete entity and began to deploy along the road. The Hussars attempted to canter along the road to seize the entrance to the town, while the main body of infantry advanced to the right of the road, supported by the Hajduk skirmishers. The cannon moved round to the left of the farm. Already, Syldavian Pandur skirmishers were in the woods along the road and the unit of Dragoons from the De Bourbon regiment were attempting a flanking manoeuvre.

The Syldavian Vranac Hussars began a flanking advance to the left of the farm in front of the Bordurian troops.

The De Bourbon Dragoons charged against the Freikorps fusiliers, who were unloaded after firing at the Pandurs in the woods, but they failed to contact the enemy.

The Hajduk skirmishers to the right of the Fusiliers fired at the dragoons, causing casualties and shock. A random event roll inflicted "Charge them to Hell!" on the Hajduks and they hit the dragoons in the flank, inflicting more casualties and shock, forcing the dragoons to flee back towards their deployment point. Even worse, the dragoon leader was killed outright. Meanwhile the Vranac Hussars were threatening the Bordurian cannon, as well as the merchant caravan.

I swiftly moved some Hajduks and a group of Fusiliers to support the gun while it unlimbered. The resulting round of canister caused shock and casualties, forcing the Hussars to take refuge in the trees out of sight. The Syldavian cavalry were getting a bloody nose.

Things were not look that good for the Bordurian horse either, as the Freikorps Hussars also came under fire. The were forced to move out of the line of fire and regrouped away to the left near the town.

There is a shortage of pictures, but, after the Bordurian cavalry looped right round the outside of the farm, back towards their entry point the two groups of Hussars ended up in Fisticuffs, with the Syldavians coming off worse and breaking, fleeing from the field of honour. The loss of both cavalry units and their officers meant a big decline in Syldavian morale. Before long this would fall into the red band, which would cause them problems by losing Command Cards.

Elsewhere, the Istow regiment began to deploy, firing at long range on the Bordurians, causing some shock and a few casualties.

The Bordurians began to advance down the road, with the wagons and pack horses staying just behind the troops.

The Syldavian plan was to hold the line around the cornfield outside the town, preventing the wagon train to get past. The remaining Dragoons were finally rallied enough to rejoin the fight, but had to rely on the Force Commander to activate them.

The Bordurians, secure from flank attacks by the vanquished Syldavian Horse began to push ahead, first clearing the Pandur skirmishers from the woods and then engaging with the main Syldavian line. Skirmishers moved up to the farm and added their musketry to the battle. the gun would soon be ready to add fire to the battle.

Combat in this area would mean success or failure for Frans Schtroumpf's small force. Meanwhile, a single group of Freikorps fusiliers and the remaining Hussars made a flanking advance around the back of the farm. Eventually, these troops would arrive on the edge of town.

 

There was much combat along the road, with the Freikorps Fusiliers coming off best in shooting and fisticuffs against their opponents from the Syldavian Istow regiment, knocking their commander unconscious, forcing the Syldavians to break and capturing the ammunition wagon and the knocked out Syldavian officer. As the Schtroumpf Fusiliers prepared to charge the remaining Pandurs, the Pandur commander decided that discretion was the better part of valour and his troops evaded, withdrawing well away from the enemy. There was just one group of Syldavian infantry between the convoy and the town, with Bordurian Hussars and more fusiliers threatening them from across the road.

At this point, Syldavian morale had plummeted to 1 and they had lost all their remaining Command Cards, as well as their Force Commander. With heavy hearts, the battered remnants of the Syldavian raiding force decided to withdraw, realising that it was now almost impossible to prevent the merchant convoy from reaching Bugrit safely.

This was a terrific battle, and very bloody. It really could have gone either way but the loss of so many Leaders really hit the Syldavians hard, resulting in a hard-fought and costly victory for the Bordurians.