FPW Battle Report (ficticious)

On Saturday I was lucky enough to go up to Mick's for a large FPW battle. I even had the dubious honour of running and organising the game. So for a scenario I had to come up with a way of limiting the Prussian artillery as once it was set up, its devastating fire power would blast the french position to pieces. So I used the weather.

The French III corps was escorting badly needed supplied to the main French field army. So far it had been running a 2 day battle with lead elements of the Prussian XI corps before 3 days of heavy rain bogged both armies down. The scene was set. Dave had command of the French, his only stipulation was the positioning of III corps on the southern short edge of the table and waggons on the road. Due to the rain, no troops gained any bonuses for being on the road, they had been reduced to quagmires. Cross country, artillery and waggons were reduced to half moves due to the saturated ground. The waggons also had to dice each turn off road in case they became bogged down.

!!! corps in position and waggons in the background

The rules were simple, the French had to get the waggons through to the road to army HQ, while the Prussians had to stop them. The Prussians were commanded by Neal, while Mick took on the South German troops, Bavarians and Wurtemburgers. The opening moves saw the Bavarians and Wurtemburgers arrive on the northern edge of the table, orders to drive south and trap the French. The Prussian XI corps advanced onto III corps with XII corps supporting its right flank.

Lead elements of Prussian XII corps

Bavarians and Wurtemburgers

To counter the Prussian advance the French I and V corps advanced through the woods onto the table. V corps were ordered to link up with III corps while I corps would check the advance of the South German troops.

French I corps emerges through the woods

The next couple of the moves saw the 2 armies move into position, with much Prussian grumbling over the soft ground slowing up the artillery. Eventually XI corps got into position and launch the first of many brutal attacks into the French III corps. Castigny's division bore the brunt but gamely held on to their position. The small town acting as a breakwater to the Prussian assaults.

Over in the north the Wurtemburgers and Bavarians were slowly getting into position when the French I corps advanced into view. Mick the decided to send the Wurtemburger division on a hook around to try and lad against the left flack, using a wood to cover their advance.

In the centre the lead elements of the Prussian XII and French V corps crashed into each other. Initially the French held a slight advantage, but Neal reformed his columns for a second attack which steamrollered over the lead French division. Dave then Had to commit his 2 reserve divisions to check the Prussian assault.

The French line begins to crumble

Over on the French right flank, III corps were evicted from the town, Dave then committed the French cavalry reserve into the action. It was a glorious charge, on they thundered. The Prussians opened fire, none rode back. With the loss of the town and cavalry, even Castigny's division had to give ground. In the centre, the Prussian XII corps continued its assault and now it had artillery support. Much to the relief of the Prussian commanders, with their artillery now in position, they began to pound the French lines. On the French left the Wurtemburgers arrived on the flank, forcing I corps to refuse its flank, while to its front, the Bavarian 1st and 3rd divisions began to advance. With pressure telling all across the line and time running out we called it a day. All agreed on a Prussian victory as the French waggons had failed to get through, while the wait of Prussian artillery began to inflict heavy casualties on some already battered french troops.

All in all a very enjoyable game. My initial fear that the wet ground was proving to much of an obstacle for the Prussian became unfounded. I've also attached a link to some more pictures of the game Slide show. Hopefully Dave will also post some of his pictures up on his blog.

Swedish Livgarde

I've now completed my second Swedish unit for the Great Northern War. This time I chose the Foot Guards, mainly because it was one of the flags that i had available from Solway. I couldn't quite work out the hat trim, but went for yellow and blue, think it turned out okay. Once again I went for a mix of headgear, gives the unit that bit more of a campaign feel. The figures are all from Dixon miniatures.

Foot Guards

Foot Guards

Foot Guards

Ive got 2 more infantry battalions prepped for painting and a unit of horse cleaned up and ready for undercoating. Gives me something paint over the next couple of weeks.

FPW 59th Infantry Regiment

With the game at Mick's coming up next weekend, I've managed to finish off another infantry regiment. Unfortunately I will not be able to get the last regiment painted in time, but that will suit the scenario I've devised.

These are the 59th Infantry regiment, the 3rd in the division. The figures as usual are all from Outpost, flag from Warflag and the bases are MDF from Warbase.

59th Infantry regiment

59th Infantry regiment

Also for use in the scenario I have painted up a couple of carts and some pack mules, this will probably give Dave, commander of the French on the day a bit of an idea of what is coming. The ox and waggons are from Warrior miniatures and the mules are from Black Hat.

Ox carts

Pack mules

This brings my total up to a 5 carts and waggons and 4 bases of pack mules, makes quite a nice supply train. I've also left them generic enough to cover a number of different periods.

Seb at backtotheminis is continuing with his give away this week. Today's offerings are some Old glory TYW/ECW, Venexia Italian Wars and 12 painted Gripping Beast dark age archers. Those are some great offerings so get yourself along and check ii out.

Narke-Varmlands

It feels like ages since I've been able to get the time and sit down to update this blog, I have even been a bit slack on checking up on the blogs I follow. You may want to check out backtotheminis as Seb is having a give away to celebrate his blogs 2nd birthday.

I have still been busy on the wargaming front. I've managed to get in a couple of games at Neal's, both bolt action and General de brigade. Very impressed with the Bolt action rules that I went out and bought an early war British rifle platoon. I'll post updates later on the Vimerio re fight that I am currently involved in.

On to the painting. Things have slowed down a little, I put that down to finishing off the WSS British and needing to recharge the batteries. So in a slight change from the WSS I decided to make a start on my GNW Swedes. First up is Narske-Varmlands infantry battalion. I chose these as they were one of the few with red turn backs and I particularly like the flag.

Narske-Varmlands

Narske-Varmlands

For the Swedes I have done a 4th base with the pikes. This way I can remove the pike base and use them for the Seven Years war. The flag is from Solway and the figures are all Dixons.

I also finished off 2 more Brigadiers, this time French for the Friedlingen project. Both these figures are from Mini Figs and paint up rather well. i find I am warming more to Mini figs, especially the cavalry figures.

French Brigadiers

French Brigadiers

Now in preparation for a large FPW game at Micks I need to put in some work on a scenario and the related maps and objectives.

Marlborough's army

It's great, that feeling you get when a project is completed. I finally completed the last of the infantry and artillery that I needed for Marlborough's British contingent for the Battle of Ramillies. The last 2 battalions of foot, Lalos' and Farrington's have just had their bases finished. So I thought I'd post a few pictures of the completed force.

British troops

View from the left

View from the rear

Artillery in the foreground

Advance!

I've really enjoyed this project. I've used a mix of manufacturers, Dixon, Warrior, Blue Moon, Minifigs, Donnington, Black Hat and Irregular. All the flags were taken from the Warflag site and bases from Warbase. My uniforms guide by Charles Grant proved invaluable as well as the TMP and League of Augsburg forums. When I compare this to the progress I am making on the Friedlingen project, you can see the difference that a target can make. This project has been finished in 4 months while the Friedlingen is still on the go after a year and a half. Now these will be packed away until May next year for the re fight.

WSS progress part V

Well, I am nearly nearing completion with this project, with just 2 more battalions of infantry and some artillery to complete with a whole year to spare. The next 2 battalions are those of Evans and Tatton. The only information I had apart from the red  coats was that Tatton's foot had green cuffs and waistcoat, so I also went with green stockings as I like the look. The figures are all from Dixon Miniatures and flag from warflag, just a simple St George's cross.

Tatton's Foot

Tatton's Foot

The next battalion is that of Evans. For these there was even less information, no cuff or waist coat colours were given. I went for green as that was the paint pot I had opened. To differentiate them from Tattons I went with grey stockings which is quite common for English foot. Again these figures are all from Dixon.

Evans' Foot

Evans' Foot

This just leaves Lalos and Farringtons battalions, both of which are already prepped and undercoated. I also want to add 6 more artillery pieces to bring my total up to 9, again these are already undercoated and ready for painting.

Raid at Moose tavern

On Thursday night at the club I managed to run another game of Muskets and Tomahawks. The forces ended up larger than I would have wanted due to the addition of 2 extra players. It was also the first time I was using hidden markers, visually not as appealing but that was probably more to the small table and too many units.

The game centred around a French attack on Moose tavern and the surrounding settlement with orders to burn each building. The British were arriving in support of the militia defenders and to beat off the French.

French Force
2 French officers
1 Irregular Officer
2 units of 10 Regulars
1 unit of 8 Canadian Militias
2 units of 8 Companie Franches de la marine
1 unit of 6 Courer de bois
3 units of 6 Hurons

Settlement defenders (British)
2 units of 6 Militia

British relief force
1 Regular officer
1 Provincial officer
2 units 8 Regulars
1 unit of 8 Provincials
1 unit of 8 Rangers
2 units of Mohawks (6 and 5 figures)

The game opened with the French irregulars and Hurons advancing through the woods with the regulars keeping to the dust tracks to aid their movement. The British meanwhile advanced the regulars and provincials into the settlement to support the militia while their Mohawks allies and rangers went looking for the french.

French regulars advance

British relief force

The first engagement came between the rangers and some Hurons, after a brisk exchange of fire the Huron unit was destroyed for the loss of 2 rangers. Meanwhile the Provincials decided to cross the stream via the bridge. Due to an unfortunate sequence of cards, a unit of french regulars were able to advance up, form a firing line before giving them a volley which downed 5 of the provincials and put them to flight. The Mohawks then tried to engage the french regulars but were surprised by a unit of Courers de bois and Canadian militia. Caught in a heavy crossfire, both units were routed.

French give fire

Run for it boys

At Moose tavern the British regulars then got to grip with more marines and Hurons. The rangers came up to support and gave a devastating volley to a unit of marines which saw them routed. The regulars then opened up and destroyed a unit of Hurons, but not before the had torched one of the buildings.

As casulatied began to mount on both sides a second building went up in flames. With no British troops across the stream a third building had been left isolated. The French regulars managed to get moving again bringing them up into range of the British regulars. The french got the better of the exchange. With time running out we called it a day. Most of the British units were either destroyed or heavily damanged, whereas the French still had 4 strong units to attack across the stream and relieve the last of their marines and Huron allies. The game was Victory for the French.

I did have a few learning points with this game. The main one being too many units on a table only 6ft by 4ft. The game got too cluttered and very confusing for both the umpire and players. Also I would restrict hidden movement to only one side unless the scenariio requires it as it just didn't feel or look right. I also need to take more photos, but as the action got fast and furious I got too wrapped up working out the carnage. Still the players enjoyed and that is the main thing.