WSS - Danes vs Franco-Bavarians

On Thursday night at the club a couple of the guys fancied a WSS game. With both never playing the rules before I went for a straight forward encounter, keeping the terrain simple and both armies of similar strength. Each side had 4 infantry brigades of 4 battalions each, 4 brigades of horse, each of 6 squadrons. As it was a training game, it's not much of a write up. It was though good to get the Danes on the table as they last saw battle in the pre-covid days. 

The Danish right wing

The enemy are in sight

Massed Danish horse

Danish Guards await the Bavarians

The infantry lines clash

Proper linear warefare

Bavarian cuirassiers caught in column

The firefight in the center continues

Somehow the battered Irish infantry repulsed the Danish horse

Getting ready to go again

Not bad for a training game as we got quite a few moves in before we called it a day. Both sides were pretty much fought out. The Danes still held a slight advantage in horse; and would have been able to exploit the French left wing.

WSS game 2

So on club night we decided to give the Tricorns another run out. Once again the French and Russians would clash. I even had two extra players keen to learn the rules.

The game began with Thom and Mitch advancing with their numerically superior Russians. Meanwhile John and myself advanced to meet them. John's unusual deployment of cavalry in the center and his infantry on the left wing would prove costly.

Thankfully out on our right flank my cavalry began to slowly wear down the inferior but numerous Russian horse. In the center though things did not go so well with the infantry exchanges. Meanwhile, John realised his deployment error and began moving his horse to the left flank. This however left a gap in the center for the Russian infantry to exploit.

Over on the left Thoms' infantry began their assault on a village. His horse though ran into Bavarian cuirassiers and took a rather heavy beating. However he did pin a full brigade of badly needed french infantry who were now needed in the center.

As the night drew to a close I had managed to re-form my french infantry in the centre. But my 2 worn brigades were facing 3 larger Russian brigades, which contained the best of the Russian infantry. Next week's outcome hangs on how quickly can John redeploy his infantry into the centre. We have the better of the Russian horse but risk our army being split in two.

Tricorns at last

So Thursday at the club a couple of the lads wanted to try out the Hex based rules I have for the WSS / GNW. I willingly obliged but couldn't decide which theatre to go for, It ended up a mix as the first boxes I managed to retrieve from the shed were the French and Russians. So a bit of a cross over. As the players were all new to the rules, I went for a simple encounter battle. This allowed the players to get used to the mechanics.

As it was a training battle I didn't make many notes of what actually happened. Simple to say my poor Russian dragoons were rather mauled by rampaging Bavarian Cuirassiers. However my infantry were able to hold their own against the superior quality Bavarian and Irish infantry. Over on the left flank, Neil B and Mitch came to blows, Mitch slowly driving the Russian Dragoons back while their infantry fought each other to a stand still. 

Russian Dragoons advance

Russian Infantry on the march

Russians getting into line

Lovely blue coats of the Bavarians

Bavarian Cuirassiers

The sloe advance

Here come the French

Let's get ready to rumble

Musketry duel

Those Bavarians are hard to stop

The lines converge 

French and Russian cavalry move into position

Casualties mounting on both sides

Advance!!

French and Russians come to blows

Keep firing

After this I forgot to take any more pictures. Overall a fun game. The mechanics are simple enough for players to quickly pick up and easy enough for me to remember since I last played them pre-covid

Additional Jannisarries

With a game arranged with Mick next weekend to test out some rule adaptions for Irregular armies of the late 17th century, l decided to add a couple more regiments of Jannisarries to my force. The figures are mainly Roundway with the officers from Friekorps.

These bring me up to 9 regiments. I do have enough figures for 2 more regiments but in campaign dress. Not sure if I have the time to get them done.

More Ottoman Turks

With a game coming up against Mick and his Russians, I found the impetus to complete the last of the mounted figures for this army. They're still a handful of infantry to sort out.

So here is the last regiment of Sipahi.  Like the last unit I completed, these are the old Mikes Models. I loved painting these and tempted to get more. I again went for a slightly regimented look, sticking to red and white.

Lastly was some additional commanders to lead the army. These are a mix of Mikes Models and Roundway figures.

So that just about completes the army. Made of the following horse:

10 regiments of Sipahi 

3 regiments of Beslu

6 regiments of Dellis

4 regiments of Wallachians 

2 regiments of Akinji

The infantry is less impressive:

7 regiments of Jannisarries

7 regiments of Azabs

1 regiment of Tefuki

10 regiments of Irregulars.

I think I need some artillery.