A Look at the Rules

 Following my last post, I re-read the rules, About Bonaparte, and compared my experience with what the rules state and the reality of the game. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the scenario was taken from One Hour Wargames with the troops selected from the mechanism described in that book (a D6). Each side had six units with the Americans having a more balanced tactical force of 3 infantry units, 2 artillery, and a unit of light dragoons. The British on the other hand ended up with 4 infantry units, 1 artillery, and 1 skirmisher unit. Typical of a Napoleonic battle? Not by a long shot, but certainly plausible for a War of 1812 scenario. As is typical with many of the scenarios in OHW, units arrived on different turns and different locations.

The mechanics of the rules were not out of the ordinary, save for the use of special dice, Movement and ranges were given in centimetres although those who are less than enamored with the metric system will find conversions to more familiar inches right alongside. Ranges did seem a bit short, although movement distances just seemed to work. The rules about support need to be read at least twice as well as the rules for "contact" (melee). The effects of "Flag" dice with their effects (and exceptions!) definitely require a read or two. 

Command and control was a bit confusing at first. A number of dice needed to be thrown to activate the unit or group. That number varied depending on whether the general was present, his aides, and unassigned officers in his entourage. But after a turn or two, it becomes almost intuitive. The game went along as reported in my previous installment with only a few hitches and I think the rules are something I will definitely use.  

My biggest complaint is the section on national differences. Throwing a Flag against a unit during fire or melee result (normally) in compulsory moves. For example, let say you roll four dice for fire and assume the roll ends up 1-Blank, 1-C, 1-I, and 1-F. If the target is regular infantry, the result would be one figure (I), and a 20 cm withdrawal facing the enemy. The Blank and the C(avalry) would not count. All well and good, all pretty straight forward. Unless the target is British! According to the rules, British after 1809 are considered veterans (ignore the first flag), an Officer figure must be in place with each British unit (ignore the second flag). If they were "supported", they could ignore even the third flag (if it were thrown). Most any other unit would retreat 40 cm, backs toward the enemy on the second flag! If a third flag were thrown, the unit would rout off the board. 

My point is British infantry are incredibly difficult to force back, let alone rout. If they happened to be elite (British Guards), they would be forced to practically die to a man! The national characteristics definitely need to be adjusted, especially those units assigned to North America in 1812-13. 1814, however, would be another story!

The Battle: Bridgehead, Part 2

Things were now beginning to heat up on both sides of the bridgehead. As the artillery on both sides deployed, casualties began to mount. More to the point, the turn saw the British reinforcements arrive from the east (point C on map). Two battalions of veteran line now supported the rallied skirmishers and artillery. But, like so many things in life, fate or fortune has a way of short circuiting the best looking plans.

British reinforcements begin to arrive

The British gun was having some problems: first, it was unable to move initially (no "A"s came up), compounded by the inability to roll any useful hits on the American line. The American artillery, having taken up position on the flank of the bridgehead unit, was raising a fair bit of angst on the British line.

American artillery deployed.

As my friends in the artillery used to remind us poor grunts (what now seems a thousand years ago) "Artillery adds dignity to what otherwise would be a vulgar brawl." 

British artillery had some difficulty 

The Americans shifted their line somewhat, with the original unit moving into the woods as the newly arrived unit with the Brigadier, the well-traveled, ill-famed, but always available, Bloodnock. As the firefight became general, the Americans now began to feel the weight of British ire. Their firepower knocked out one gunner, but the two flags that accompanied that roll proved too much for the hard-pressed gun, and the crew routed. With their flank exposed to a British assault, things were decidedly dicey.

British firepower begins to tell

  Fortunately, the second American gun arrived and deployed on the American side of the river. With the range shortening (and a few lucky die rolls) the situation stabilized enough for the third and final American infantry unit to get into position. A near run thing, but now casualties began to mount on the British line as both musketry and artillery took their toll. One regiment fell back, still another began to weaken.

Disaster looms for the Americans!

The 2nd gun deploys and fires

 More British arrived, stabilizing the situation. A rough parity began to appear: both sides had 2 combat effective infantry units (the Americans in the woods ultimately retreated) both sides had guns in the fray... Stalemate...or victory? As it turned out, the battle had stabilized. The British 10th and 54th Foot (yellow and green standards) ultimately were force to retire. But in their stead, the  3rd KORR, and 4th (The Buffs) manned the line. At that point with the lines now engaged in a battle of attrition, the game was called without protest (easily done when playing solo).

British casualties continue to mount

The 2nd Light Dragoons finally appear

 With the final arrival of the light dragoons, again living up to their motto "denique nuper denario diurno", it was still up in the air as to the ultimate victor.

So, how did the rules play out? Well, my opinion will have to wait until next time. But until then, check out this link: Dale's Wargames .

The Battle: Bridgehead, Part 1

In my last post, I went over the map and OB to be used in this test of About Bonaparte. Let me expand that and describe the forces in a little more detail. Under the rules, troops are classified using the terms Green/Militia, Trained/Regular, Veteran, and Elite. Each of these is in turn assigned a point value per figure. Thus multiplying the number of figures in the unit (8 for infantry), we can arrive at the unit's value. Trained/ Regulars for example are 3 points per figure, or 24 points per unit. Veterans on the other hand are 5 points per figure, or 40 per unit. Theoretically then armies of equal points should be well-matched against each other.

The initial American position. 

 Another key concept is the use of the specialized dice mentioned in the previous post. Flags are especially critical. Rolling one or more flags when firing on a unit will, depending on its training type, and can result in catastrophic failure of their morale, although various mitigations are in play. For example, Veterans can ignore the first flag thrown that turn. If an officer is attached (at extra points), even a second flag thrown could be ignored.
The picture on the left shows the American unit occupying the "unfriendly" side of the bridge. On the right in the woods are two skirmishers from the unit. The photo below shows the initial advance of the British.

British skirmishers and gun enter the board from the North.

 According to the OHW scenario, the Americans (Blue) have crossed the river and have taken up their position. The unit is classified as Trained/Regular, and since it is a detachment from the main body, an officer has been attached in command. During the initial exchange of volleys (Blue) has fired. The roll of 4 dice 1-blank, 1-C, 2-F. The blank and the C caused no casualties (infantry targets require and "I"). But the two Flags...well normally, that would be another story. BUT, the British Light Infantry (Red) are Veterans, with an officer. Veterans can ignore the first flag, and the officer allows them to ignore the second.
Return fire from Red inflicted 2 casualties on the infantry.
Turn 2 saw the first reinforcement for Blue. Trundling across the bridge from the road, an American light (6 pdr.) iron gun took up position to the right of the Americans. Red was not scheduled for reinforcement this turn. Meanwhile, the British advanced and fired without effect. American return fire saw one skirmisher down.

The Lights advance. The gun is desperately trying to deploy.

British casualties begin to mount.

The Americans had a space before more, and more deadly, British infantry entered the fray. Now luck turned against the British. Since the officer was attached to the lights, the gun needed an "A" roll to activate. It didn't. The Americans on the other hand did roll an "A", and the gun was able to deploy. But the Lights were game and advanced. But now, facing a gun, and an almost full unit. The firefight was one sided at best (rolling 3 flags, and an "I" certainly helped. the remaining 3 dice would turn out to be 2 blanks and a "C"). The British lights fell back

Game fellows, All. But the combined firepower was too much!

Well, we'll finish up here today. I'll be posting part 2 later in the week (at least, that's the plan).

Testing the Rules, Part 1

Bridgehead: A One Hour Wargame

In my last post, I described a set of rules for battles with 54mm figures that appeared to be both comprehensive and fast.Written by Dirk Donvil and available from Caliver Books (Partizan Press), they are called About Bonaparte. In this installment and the following, I will report on a battle fought using these rules (with a couple of tweaks for the War of 1812). The scenario is drawn from One-Hour Wargames by Neil Thomas and is #5 Bridgehead. I copied the map although I enlarged it somewhat to an area of 4 feet by 3 feet (my dining area table is 5' by 3'). The map is shown below:

The American Army will be entering from the South, the British from primarily the North and East

One of the things I like about OHW is the provision for randomly selecting the forces involved. By rolling a D6, players (or player--great for solo games) will be assigned if you will a force of between three and six units, depending on the scenario. This particular game required 6 units to a side. Rolling for result, the following were given:

Red Force (British) rolled a 5 on a D6 giving them a force of 4 infantry, 1 artillery, and 1 skirmisher.

Blue Force (Americans) rolled a 1, giving them a force of 3 infantry, 2 artillery, and 1 cavalry.

Further dice rolls determined when and where the troops would enter and initially deploy. This gave the American force 1infantry unit, north of the bridge and within 6 inches of it at the very start of the game. On Turn One, the British would roll to determine who comes on and where. Their result was two units (1 artillery, 1skirmisher) entering at point B. On turn Two, one blue unit would arrive at point D.

So, here we have it. But before finishing up for today, let me give you some of the tweaks I mentioned earlier. Under the rules, all of the British (after 1809) are considered Veteran troops and additionally have an officer attached (this is critical when your opponent rolls a "flag" on one of his/her dice). Americans are Regulars/Trained, and have an officer with every two units, leaving one dangling if a flag is rolled against it. Otherwise, each unit of non-skirmishers may deploy 1 figure as a skirmisher. I hold to this for the British whose organization (historically) included a Light Company. The Americans at the time followed along to a certain extent except the "elite" companies in American Regiments included 2 flank companies, both often lights, whereas the British had one light, and one grenadier company for its "flanks". Thus, I allow an American unit to deploy 2 figures in a skirmisher role.

Next time: The Battle!

New Ideas, New Rules: War of 1812

It's been a few months, but as we are now in high summer, and despite the fact that most of Massachusetts is open after the recent pandemic, the temperature outside would indicate that some inside (air conditioned) activities might be warranted. In my last post I wrote about my original interest, later revived, in the War of 1812 (as it is known here). In perusing the net, I came across a blog I would highly recommend:PMCD-Mobilisatie

This group seems to specialize in 54mm wargames and although located in Belgium (Flanders), most of the postings are translated to English. The photos and postings are well-done. Check it out if you get a chance.

Now, one of the issues that seems to be more common with 54's than other scales is a lack of rules that both provide a satisfactory game and can accommodate lots of troops. In perusing the pmcd-mobilisatie postings, there was mention of a set of Napoleonic rules that they used called About Bonaparte by Dirk Donvil and available through Partizan Press (Caliver Books ). I think they may fit the bill very well! As much as I enjoy Charge! and All the King's Men (ATKM), they have their drawbacks. In the case of  Charge!, large units and rules that can be, and often are, a bit confusing. Having no quick access or summary sheets certainly doesn't help. ATKM is straight forward, but the use of large amounts of dice and colored status markers does tend to slow things down.

About Napoleon is promoted as fast play, and I think that is true. Units are eight figures on 4-6 stands. The dice are customized, marked by having I (infantry), A (artillery), C (cavalry), F (flag), along with a blank side. Still, I was able to purchase a dozen blank dice on line easily, and marking the letters with permanent markers took only a few minutes. The rules for movement, command, firing, and contact (melee) are straight forward. They are fairly comprehensive and include sections on national characteristics, a simple set of campaign rules, as well as specific rules for other musket era wars including FIW, AWI, ACW, (even nineteenth century colonial wars!)

Now, I was skeptical that Napoleonic warfare could be represented well with such small units and in such a large scale, but I was, happily, wrong. I've included some photos of my War of 1812 Americans and British.The figures are both AIP and ATKM. They are organized for the About Bonaparte  rules. More next time!

Sometimes, You just need a Change

Old Haunts, and New Projects

Many years ago, when Jack Scruby's miniatures were state of the art, and Donald Featherstone's Wargamers' Newsletter was the magazine to read on the hobby, I discovered the War of 1812. Scruby carried a line of 30mm figures both American and British. At the time, the late 60's, my friend Tom and I were just discovering that there were actual rules available, and we could use them to fight battles! The rest, as one might say, is history.

Flash forward fifty plus years: Tom and I, along with other members of our club, still meet and game on a regular basis, at least until recently. With the COVID-19 pandemic, such things are put in abeyance, hopefully soon to resume our normal daily pursuits. Yet it did rekindle my interest in the War of 1812...and painting figures for future battles in better times.

For those who have read my musings over the last couple of years, know that the AWI and 54mm figures are pretty much all I write about. But sitting at home, only going out for a daily walk or trip to the supermarket, does tend to concentrate one's mind. This renaissance for 1812 began a few years back when I discovered Ken Cliffe's company and his 54mm figures, now sadly no longer in production and sorely missed. I still have some of his 1812 line waiting, like so many others, for the brush.

Next time I'll go into more detail and discussion, but for now I will leave you with some photos from a game I put on at Huzzah 2016. I don't remember the outcome, but everyone seemed to have a good time.

A New Normal?

New Horizons, Ideas, and Games

As I write this, we are about halfway through the second week of "stay at home" advisory ordered by our governor to cope with the current troubles. All but "essential" businesses have been ordered closed, although many (at least hobby suppliers) are still fulfilling online orders. Indeed, I just received yesterday an order of HaT figures that I put in just on March 23. If you need any figures, paints, or accessories, I highly recommend this vendor,  The Hobby Bunker (and, I have no ties to this firm other than that of a satisfied customer!).
I am sure that many of us have tried or toyed with the idea of solo games or even campaigns. With everything that's going on, this is the perfect time! I mentioned one earlier in my postings, namely the Wars of Franconian Succession. What troubled me for awhile was the need for a suitable map, showing the relative positions of the various powers involved in this imaginary campaign. Having found this online, I figured it was perfect: Europe, about 1000 A. D.

Well, now I had a map! As for troops, the Hessians that I have used in previous games and published at various times in this blog would do for the Duchies of Swabia and Franconia. My Saxons would do for those of Thuringia and Saxony, while the Kingdoms of Burgundy, Lombardy, and Duchy of Upper Lorraine would be represented by my French and Spanish SYW figures. Pictures and organizations of the contending armies will be the topic of next time!