Napoleonic Highlanders

I know what you’re thinking… “Napoleonics!? Tim!? What the…?!” All I can say is I must have suffered some sort of severe head trauma – so severe that I don’t even remember it… and that, combined with all the pretty pictures in the Black Powder book… and the insane five for four regiments deal at Renegade Miniatures… well… let’s just say when the dust settles and the painting brush is put down I’ll have a brigade or two of British ready to do battle

Anyway, these, which are not from Renegade, showed up last week and I’ve been painting like a mad bastard all week trying to get them done for Saturday as my friend Curt was to come up from Regina to run a game of Naopleonic Black Powder. Unfortunately I’ve also been sick this last week and was getting worse rather than better (probably exacerbated by the extremely late nights trying to get these painted!?) and by Saturday I was in no condition to get out of bed, let alone go anywhere… boooooo! Luckily the game was rescheduled for Sunday and with two nights (Friday and Saturday)of good sleep and a day of rest and relaxation (and painting!) I was able to make it out WITH the Highlanders (where these brave jocks gave a good account of themselves).

You can see a report of the weekend’s battle in the Previous Post

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


This it the 42nd Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Regiment).

The figures are all from Front Rank Figures, the flag was painted by myself.


Here they are again in square. Pretty aren’t they?


Assault Column


Column of March


I even picked up some dead/casualty markers (these are also from Front Rank Figures). I have a third one somewhere that I didn’t complete…? (and I forgot to take them along for the game!? URRRR!)

This is actually the main reason I ordered from Front Rank – the casualties. I also ordered a pile of British regulars and even some French casualties… and some for the Seven Years War!? I had been considering Perry Miniatures Highlanders – but for some reason, despite having wonderful casualty packs for just about ALL of their lines… they DON’T have a British Napoleonic casualty pack!?

I’ll probably do a second battalion of Highlanders at some point - the 42nd was apparently brigaded with the 92nd (Gordon) during the Waterloo campaign – and maybe I’ll use Perry’s for those…


I also picked up a few General officer types to act as the brigadiers… (also from Front Rank Figures).

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Well, if those Renegade orders showed up anytime soon, it could very well be more Naps…!? Otherwise it’ll probably be more African tribesman…. Or askaris…?

I still feel like I'm going to cough out a lung, but hopefully I’ll be back on my feet and get a game in again over the next week or so and so there should be a report of that.

Napoleonic Black Powder

This past weekend our good friend Curt came up to Saskatoon for part of the weekend and ran a Napoleonic Black Powder Game for Me and John.

[Begium, late June 1815]

SITUATION

Waterloo did not go well for the British. Generalfeldmarschall Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher died of hemorrhaging after being pinned under his horse at Quatre Bras. Von Gneisenau, Blücher’s Chief of Staff, took command of the Prussian forces and decided not to come to the aid of the British.

In the battle at Waterloo Wellington was killed and the British and allies were soundly defeated. The British army is now in full retreat towards Antwerp. A force of British have been detailed to hold off the pursuing French to buy time.

SCENARIO

British – hold the town of Boom and prevent the French from crossing the river.

FORCES

British

C-in-C Lt. Gen. Frederick Adam

1st Brigade (under direct control of Adam)
1/95th Rifles
1/28th Foot
RHA section
RA section

2nd Brigade – Brigadier Brown
42nd Foot (Royal Highland Regiment)
23rd Foot (Royal Welsh Fusiliers)
RHA section

French
(I’m not real clear on the French Order of battle… Marshal Ney was in command, and there was two brigades, each with three infantry battalions. Then there was a cavalry regiment and a bunch of guns, but I wasn’t really clear which belonged to which brigade… They’re French… I’m not sure they’re organized enough to have any sort of real “order of battle” anyway…)

THE GAME

I played the British and John played the French, while Curt played referee – because John and I like to argue about rules so much – someone’s got to keep the peace and make rulings… (I’m being “funny” here…). Originally I was to have just the three battalions Curt had brought up in a single brigade. I brought along my New Highlanders and was going to try and convince Curt to let me substitute them in for one of the British battalions. John started the smack talk early and was simultaneously dissing Highlanders and British Rules writers which unfairly favour the British, so Curt just said I should just add the Highlanders and my Brigadier to the order of battle and have two brigades of two battalions plus the guns…. (lesson to be learned – JOHN! – never trash talk the referees heritage before the order of battle has been settled on..).

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


The 95th Rifles set up in a field. (You can find more pretty pictures of this unit on Curt’s Napoleonic Gallery)


The Belgian town of Boom – held by the British 28th Regiment of Foot and some guns from the Royal Artillery.


Apparently the commander of the French 1iere Brigade; General du Brigade Schmitz…?! Hmmmm… sounds German…?


The rest of the 1iere Brigade. Well… I’m not sure about the Horsies…? Could have been part of the other brigade… or, given that they’re French, It could be their lunch…


The other, presumably “2ieme”, Brigade, with the First brigade in the distance.

This second brigade got off to a bad start. The first turn they failed to do anything… The second turn they did nothing as well… The Third… or was it fourth…? They finally made one move forward. But then the following turn the Brigadier made a command blunder and they retired two moves back – knocking some of then right off the table.


Schmitz got his brigade moving on the second turn (German efficiency for you!) but was plagued with his own problems. The first being that curt had us rolling for random events throughout the game and on the second (or third?) turn one of his battalions was ordered off the table to deal with some skirmishers in the woods somewhere… The other problem was all this fancy steady advancing brought them closer to the British and they’re pretty good at shooting and stuff…


The view from the British 2nd Brigade around turn three… not much happening.


Around this time the battalion in the white started taking steady fire from two of the British gun sections as well as the Rifles and pretty much remained disordered until they broke and left the fireld of battle a few turns later…


The british firing on the French in white.

The French Guns are now deployed. Eventually Ney tired of his lethargic Frenchmen and rode to the artillery battery and cried “Follow Me!” and personally led them around the woods to where they were to deploy and pour long-range fire down for the rest of the game.


Eventually the Horse got going as well, also, I think, under Ney’s personal command. They took some fire from the guns in the village at this point and the next turn attempted to charge the Highlanders.


Some more pictures of Curt’s pretty Frenchmen.


The French guns. I’m thinking they maybe had their own brigade commander – and that’s him there with the telescope.


The French cavalry riding around on tomorrow’s lunch.


…aaaand there they are again getting ready to charge the Highlanders.


At this point the Cavalry have retired after trying to charge the Highlanders, but turned away after the Highlanders formed square. The French 2ieme Brigade has finally returned to the table and are making their way towards the British 2nd Brigade.


The French 1iere Brigade had some light infantry – they dispersed into skirmish order and made their way through the woods and fired on the 95th Rifles for a while.


The Cavalry tries to charge again and both the Highalnder and Welsh formed square so the cavalry just galloped around them.


The infantry followed hot on the hooves of the Cavalry and charged the Highlander and Welsh who were still in square. This didn’t work out so well for the British.


The Highalnders stood their ground, despite having two fighting dice to the French SIX!


Lot of shooting going on with little effect on the other side… thought this is about when the French in white broke…


The big Melee again…


The Welsh lost their first round and broke and ran. The highlnders lost their first round, and the second and the third, possibly a fourth…?! But just would NOT go away!

The French the defeated the Welsh turned to charge the guns but took some canister point blank and thought the better of it. I think it was eventually the cavalry that rode the guns down.


As it turns out I’d held off the French long enough and on turn six I was told I could retire anytime after turn eight. I think it was turn nine that I started to retire. I was a little worried that I might get ridden down by the French – but after their engagement with the 2nd British battalion I think all the Infantry and the cavalry regiment were shaken (taken hits equal to their stamina” and the Generals tried to rally them for a turn or two before charging in again – which gave me just enough time to get the 28th and the 95th and one section of horse artillery back across the bridge!

Huzzah!!

Well, it's kind of late and I'm to tired for any post game analysis... so let's just say: Totally fun game! Took a little while to get going with all the French command problems but got very exciting, very quickly thereafter.

Thanks CURT!

You should all go check out his own blog:

Analogue Hobbies

In the Naploeonic gallery you will find much better pictures of many of the units used in this battle and much more!

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Some up close pics of those new Highlanders…

FreezerBurn I

(not miniature or wargaming, per se, but definitely gaming related...)

On Saturday I usually play Savage Worlds in the evening, but not so yesterday I attended the inaugural FreezerBurn - John Burt's invitational Board Gaming Day. There were Eleven participants and we played six games. Each game participants got points based on their placement within the group they were playing with and at the end of the day the Participant with the highest point total got to choose first from the prize table (everyone also had to bring one board game to put up as a prize - so everyone got to go home with a new game!).

Game One

Small World


Stumbled into John's house just as SMall world was starting. This turned out to be teh only game of the day I'd actually played before... and I'd only played it once before... over a year ago... Above is the table I played at with (left to right) Leah, Jason, and Dan. I eeked out a victory over Jason by ONE POINT!?

I like Small World. I'll probably break down and buy it some day.... Maybe after I get around to playing some of the board games I already have!!

Game Two

Railways of the World


Played with (left to right) Darrin, John (the Host), Aaron, and Leah. This was the first "Train Game" I've ever played. It was fun enough. I think I was dead last....? Leah and I were kind of competing in the region of Chicago. The others were more or less on the other side of the Mountains, and Aaron built track through the area to complete a main line, but didn't really interfere.

Game Three

Dominion


I played this with Darrin, John and Brenda. Fun. Fast. So fast I completely forgot to take a picture of the game - so here's John clearing it up!

Game Four

Brass


Played with (left to right) Darrin and Jason. Not only had I not played it, but Darrin and Jason had only ever played it once and there was much confusion... This time it was Jason's turn to beat me by ONE POINT!?

Game Five

Ticket To Ride
Another fast playing game - which I forgot to take a picture of!? There was only two table of this one and I played with John, Darrin, Aaron, and Jason. Wow... I'm not sure how many people this game is usually played with, but with five there was an awful lot of cutting each other off. The initial tickets I was given were horrid - not ONE of them used any of the same track - I picked the two biggest and the shortest one. The shortest was the only one I wasn't able to complete the others Vancouver to Montreal and Calgary to Phoenix I managed to do (though Calgary-Phoenix was by a rather circuitous route) I thought I'd done rather well for myself - until everyone else tallied up their points and I was left in the dust! OI! Fun just the same.

Game Six

Power Grid


(left to right) Brenda, Dave and Kimber. This was a fun game too, but I wasn't really clear on the objective of teh game and was given some not-so-great advise from the other players on where to start that kind of killed me... ("yeah set up in the corner there - you'll be totally close to that one so you can quickly expand into the next city and can take over this whole area without anyone coming near you because it will be too expensive to get through this bottleneck..." - turn three Brenda came through the bottle neck and took three cities pinning me in a corner for a couple turns with only five cities until phase two where I could expand into cities covered by others... ah well...).

I ended up in the middle and came home with a brand new copy of Munchkin Cthulhu (plus three expansions!!)

Somehow I never got to end up at a table with Al!? (maybe next year Al!?)

Anyway it was a totally fun day with some totally fun people! Big thanks to John for organizing it - I hope I get invited again next year!!

Black Powder #2

John popped by again last night to have another go at Black Powder…

[New France, 1758]

SITUATION

British and French are still vying for supremacy in the new world…

SCENARIO

Another simple meeting engagement…. Except with more stuff!

To play a bigger game I actually added in a unit of individually based figures - which, because it's Black Powder and basing doesn't really matter so much, I can do...

FORCES

British

C-in-C General Angus Bottomwallow

1st Brigade
42nd Regt. of Foote (Royal Highland Regiment)
78th Regt. of Foote (Fraser’s Highlanders)
35th Regt. of Foote
1 Battery Light Artillery

2nd Brigade
48th Regt. of Foote.
Louisburg Grenadiers
Allied Indians (Small, Skirmish)
1 Battery Light Artillery


French

C-in-C Le Marquis d’Hiver

Premier Brigade
R. du Langedoc
R. de La Sarre
R, de La Reine
1 Battery Light Artillery

L-Autre Brigade
R. du Guyenne
Royal Roussilon
Corps de Cavalrie
1 Battery Light Artillery



THE GAME

We diced for who decided who set up on which side and who went first – in both cases me!


(Remember: Click on the pics to see a larger version!)


Overview of the battlefield. There was woods in both our deployment zones which caused us to start somewhat bunchedup, and not quite opposite each other. On the left are the French. At the right of the French line is Le Premier Brgade (in the foreground), and on the left (further away) is L’Autre Brigade. On the right of the pic is the British. The 2nd Brigade is on the left of the British line (closest) and the first is on the right (further).

As with last game, the first order I issued – a brigade order – full speed ahead – scoreed three moves and two of my regiments charged clear across the table – causing some distress for Jean and his Frenchmen!


At the end of my first move; the 48th Regt. of Foote and the Louisburg Grenadiers have advanced nearly clear across the table. The Indians have advanced to the front edge of the woods overlooking the open area that is presumably to be the field of battle. The Brigades guns have moved up but failed to deploy.

Further back the 78th Regt. of Foote (Fraser’s Highlanders) and the 35th Regt. of Foote have advanced in line to the hedge, the guns have moved up and deployed, but the 42nd Regt. of Foote (Royal Highland Regiment) – which was deployed in column and on the road (!?) – failed to move…!?


The 48th Regt. of Foote and the Louisburg Grenadiers causing much anxiety for Le Premier Brigade and Le Marquis d’Hiver (in his fancy purple coat).


The 1st Brigade plus the 2nd brigades light guns (in the bottom left) and General Angus Bottomwallow and his attendants.

I think the first brgades guns got off a long range shot at Royal Roussilon and caused them to be disordered (though they suffered no casualties).


General Angus Bottomwallow and his attendants. I’m not entirely sure why his server is turned away….? Perhaps he abhors bloodshed…?


The end of the French first move (much like our previous game), most of them having failed to act! R. du Guyenne did managed to pass by the wavering Royal Roussilon and timidly advance before the might of the British Army (which are actually mostly Scottish… but whatever…). The Corps de Cavalrie managed to advance in column of march, but failed to reform into line. The battalions light guns also moved forward and deployed.

Le Premier Brigades guns did manage to deploy but it took direct intervention by the Le Marquis d’Hiver, the commander in chief, to get it done.


The 48th Regt. of Foote takes fire from the French guns.


British guns take fire from their French opposites.


L’Autre Brigade – slightly out-of-focus, but managing better than Le Premier Brigade…


The British Indian allies and the Louisberg Grenadiers advance to protect the right of the British line, should the French Premier Brigade ever managed to advance out of their hiding place behind the woods.


The first British Brigade managed to form an nice big pretty line. Sadly there was no such pretty formations opposite them to exchange gentlemanly volleys of fire as the French clusterf@ck in the woods continued well into the third turn.


Another picture of the pretty line, executed by smart-looking precision drilled soldiers.


The British line again and the motley French shambling towards them.


The 48th by this point had advanced to within musketry range and was exchanging shots with R. Du Languedoc and takng fire from the French guns.


L’Autre Brigade attempting to advance toward their British betters.


More pics of the 48th exchanging fire with the French in their camp… R. de La Reine and R. de La Sarre apparently still in bed!?


The French Corps de Cavalrie stayed in column of march out in the open for a couple turns giving the British a couple opportunities to hammer on them – they had the most amazing luck, however. One turn I scored EIGHT hits and they saved seven of them…


Shocking the hell out of everyone present (including John who was commanding them!?)the French actually charged a not-disordered, not-shaken, supported battalion of Highlanders (yes, HIGHLANDERS!) to their front, unsupported… The Highlanders were apparently so shocked themselves they didn’t manage to score a single hit during closing fire!?

(I think the guns might have been able to get in on that closing fire… I’ll have to look into that)


Anyway, the jocks handed them their asses in close combat and sent the shattered remains of the French battalion scurrying back to their nurse maids.


So desperate was the Brigade commander to get his troops moving (or at least out of enfilading fire) he galloped over to the Corps de Cavalrie, shouted; “Follow me!” and led them off behind the hedge….


R. de La Reine and R. de La Sarre eventually got moving (around urn four or five) and formed a line and exchanged fire with the Indians and the Louisburg Grenadiers. La Reinne was disordered by the Grenadiers fire.


Then the Grenadiers were disordered….


The Brtish First Brigade firing on L’autre Brigades remaining battalion of Infantry and their light guns.


In something akin to military enthusiasm the French cavalry managed to charde the Grenadiers from behind (just like a Frenchmen…) and La Sarre managed to charge (the much smaller, skirmishing) unit of Indian allies. The Indian allies were driven off (put off by the smell of perfumes, mostly) and the French cavalry was driven back behind their safe little hedge.

(Hmmm… the Grenadiers probably could have had some traversing fire on La Sarre…)


Despite being in a nice orderly line the 1st brigade was feeling like they didn’t have much to shoot at (those unsporting Frenchmen all running away and hiding…) so the 78th Regt. of Foote (Fraser’s Highlanders) peeled off to go give some support to the 2nd Brigade as they looked like they might be in a bit of a spot of bother…

Shortly thereafter R. Du Guyenne, having suffered a number of turns of withering fire from the British 1st Brigade (and being disordered pretty much from the word go) finally gave up and retired from the field of battle thus breaking L’Autre Brigade.

Of course then we realized previous turn the British 2nd brigade, technically, should have been “broken” as well as the Indian allies had left (as if the British would have cared, those unreliable skirmishing fiends!) and the 35th started a turn shaken… ah well.

(mental note – rallying units that are shaken or close to… probably a good idea..!)


We called it a night and decided the British had delivered a morale-crushing defeat to the French… or did we call it a “minor victory”… Whatever….

The game moved quickly enough – despite pretty much doubling the forces used in out previous game. I’m not going to add any more stands of half stands to any of my Seven Years War units to make them be able to more easily make the various formations allowed in the game. Now that we’re getting the hang of it I could see getting into it and playing it a fair bit – with the right people. Maybe not a game I think I’d take to a convention and introduce to multiple new players… but maybe that’s just because I don’t’ really have a handle on all the rules – with a few more plays and reading the rules again I might be on top of it enough… we shall see..

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I could tell you, but then you’d know… and it’s a secret… (shhhhh! Don’t mention THE WAR!!)