Muskets for Vicky

 Hi all,

Last year, Queen Vicky's day saw a solo game of Pikeman's Lament.  This year, we have a (slightly belated) game of Maurice against an actual opponent!  Having a rare sunny, but not too windy, day here in the wilds of Atlantica, I lured the Juras up to Casa Monkey for a trial game, using my old 6mm stuff.  I took the glorious French, he took perfidious Albion, and the fife and drum played while the dogs chased each other around the back yard.

Photos generally taken from Albion's perspective - thanks, Jura!

As this was a learning game (he'd played some of Sam M's games before, but not Maurice), I kept it simple.  We skipped the set-up phase, I put his Brits in a defensive position with the French attacking, all units were Trained, and we limited ourselves to one National Advantage and one Notable apiece.  

British and Hanoverian lines

The glory of France arrayed

B&H horse.  I think these were the impetuous ones.

Highlanders, garrisoning a random town.

With a selection of notables from which to choose, Jura opted for Cameron von Muller, whom he promptly attached to his artillery, and familiarized himself with his NA, which gave him an advantage on defense.  Handy, as he was defending ;)

I took my old stand-by Augustus von Thiesling

And for the French, a la Baiyonette!

Opening moves of the game, after an indecisive bombardment by both sides, was a lumbering advance by the French infantry towards the nearer of the two villages, countered by what should have been an entirely predictable event.

As long-time readers of the blog may recall, it's become something of an institution that whenever I play Maurice, I inevitably have the "That's not on the Map!" card played against me.  The tradition was upheld this game, in that Jura used an Intelligence card to pluck it from my hand, and promptly played it against me, dropping a rather inconvenent bog right in front of the advancing French infantry.

That card.  That damned card.

Now we have to do it the hard way.  And under fire.

This rather suddenly stalled what would, no doubt, have been a epic to be sung for the ages, as my infantry now had to negotiate the bog on their way in.  Activations in Maurice are by "forces", which are composed of the same class of unit (eg., infantry), in the same kind of terrain.  Dropping the bog meant that every time a unit advanced through it, not only did that unit become disrupted (which would require activations to rally), but also that the said unit would now comprise a different force.  This slows things down quite a bit ;)

Cavalry move to threaten the flank

But are repulsed

I got a bit of revenge when Jura advanced his cavalry to threaten my infantry milling about in the centre.  I played a "Heat of Battle" card on them, prompting a rather rash charge through rough ground (a ploughed field)  into the front of my infantry.  Bear in mind, Maurice is an 18th game; these are NOT Napoelonic cavalry, and disrupted horse (because of the bad going) attacking a prepared infantry line (pew-pew), don't tend to fare well.  His didn't, anyways ;)

I then made the cardinal error of NOT removing that card from the deck (which is an option), and on the reshuffle, Jura drew it, and played it to make one of my infantry attack his garrisoned unit.  Not quite as disastrous a result, but it still threw me off ;)

Sauce for the goose

Trying to bring more fire to bear on the garrison.  Didn't help

After the attack on the garrison degenerated into a musket duel (with the advantage to the dug-in troops), I finally managed to negotiate the bog with a few infantry regimaents.  With the day coming to a close, I pushed forward a poorly coordinated attack in the centre (mainly because I wanted Jura to see what an infantry clash would look like).

I believe the officer in command of this attack was a certain "LeRoi Jaunquins"

Battered and disrupted on the way in, raked by musket fire, my poor lads were no match for a counter-charge by the English, who dispersed the two leading regiments.  While we still had some time in the game, and both armies were some ways away from breaking, real-world time constraints, and the lack of tactical options (it would take a while for me to coordinate a cavalry attack) led me to ask for terms, which were offered in a most gentlemenly manner by my opponent.

Jura seemed to enjoy himself, and has been searching out a copy of the rules, which has me hopeful of more games.  If so, I'm delighted, as the SYW / 18th c. is one of my favorite periods (possibly my favorite), and I love Maurice.  We'll start layering in some of the additional elements - more varied units, the set up phase, and ideally, a campaign, but for now, I'll settle for a potential regular opponent.  Many thanks to Jura for the game, and fingers crossed there will be more in the future.

I've got a bit of a backlog of painting stuff to post - nothing major, but small updates to a number of projects.  I also lucked into a large lot of on-sprue Pike and Shot infantry from Warlord, and am cudgelling my brain over what to do with them.  The logical thing would be to use them to add to an existing project (most obviously, the small Royalist force I did for Pikemans' Lament), but I've visions of a 30YW force dancing in my head.  From what I gather, the Warlord figs are really designed for ECW (they lack the flamboyance of the French or Spanish of the period), but maybe some Swedes or Dutch?  My sympathies in the 30YW tend to lie with the Catholic powers, however, so I'm not sure.  any advice or suggestions will be considered.

FMB

Review, long past review

 Hi gang,

Finished up a couple more units of Russians for Blucher, a second unit of grenadiers, and the last of the line.  With these two finished, I've now got eight units / brigades done up - the planned infantry core for my initial 200 points of Russians, so I figured it was worth getting them all out for a review.

This leaves me with another unit of heavy cavalry, one of cossacks, and two batteries of guns to finish up, which is relatively easy striking distance.  I've been slightly sidetracked by some GW stuff (as I noted last post, there's a new edition of Age of Sigmar in the pipeline, and the Cub is here for the summer, so 40k is once again a thing), but I should get to these in the foreseeable future (the Cuirassiers are staring at me intently from the painting queue as I write this).  

In semi-related news, I spent a rather enjoyable morning loitering about the Virtual Joy of Six.  This is the UK based wargames show focused on 6mm that I drool over each year, but don't get to attend (what with the inconvenient ocean in the way).  This year, they did an on-line version, due to Covid.  While I missed some of the morning sessions (time zones are a thing), I did manage to catch the main panel, some painting and trader discussions, and lurk in the background of some great-looking games.  Saw a number of "faces" that are familiar from the 6mm scene and the blogosphere, and generally had myself a delightful time.  Many thanks to those who organized the event!

We've had some odd weather here lately (stonking hot, then a week of rain) which has put a bit of a damper (HA!) on outdoor gaming, but it looks like we've got a break next week.  If I can clear the decks of some work stuff, I should be able to get in a Pikemans' Lament game against a real-live opponent.  

The Cub and I have also played the first of our traditional summer 40k bonanza, and I'll get up some pics of that in a bit.

FMB

The big boys

 Hi all,

I found myself needing a beak from painting 28mm, and turned, perhaps predictably, to 6mm, specifically my Napoleonic Russians.  

I painted up a brigade of grenadiers.  The Russians fielded both dedicated grenadier regiments, and converged.  This brigade is made up of battalions from the Moscow and Kiev grenadier regiments.

Along with the grenadiers, I also painted up my first brigade of cuirassiers, made up of squadrons from the Little Russia and Novgarod regiments.

As with all of my units, these are based off of those that operated in the 1813 campaign.

As I was wrapping these up, the Victrix Vikings arrived, and promptly took over my hobby desk.  I've put together several, and will have a post on them soon.

FMB

Reinforcing Russians

Hi all,

Finished up a cavalry base for my Blucher Russians.  This is Lanskoi's brigade at Lutzen, composed of the Alexandria, White Russia, and Soum Hussars.

Uniforms were grey, black, and blue.  A somber lot, this.

Tried something a little different with this base, going for a larger number of "unit clumps" composed of a smaller number of figures.  Not sure if it sells the effect as well as the last base I did, but it's growing on me.

Turns out, 6mm pelisses (pelissae?) are kind of cute.

In Blucher, there's only two categories of Russian cavalry (three, if you include cossacks), heavy (guards and cuirrassiers) and "not-heavy", which seems to include dragoons, hussars, uhlans, etc.  I figure by sticking to an all Hussar brigade, I can run these as "lights" in any game with more granular distinctions between units.  I'll admit, I am tempted to do up a mixed cavalry brigade at some point, although the Russians seem to have mostly brigaded their cavalry by weight.

Some AoS/40k stuff is likely next, and then more historicals.  Until then, stay well.

FMB

More Austrians

Hi all,

First of the Austrian cavalry, a regiment of cuirassiers.



These are the O'Donnel cuirassiers.  I couldn't resist doing up a unit of Austrian cavalry with an Irish colonel.  I've always associated the Wild Geese with the French, but it makes sense that Irishmen would also find their way to Austria, as it was another catholic power in Europe.



These were fairly simple to paint.  I'm in dire need of new brushes though.  The ones I have still have enough tip for most purposes, but really fine work, like defining faces in 6mm, seems now beyond them.



I've also informed the Beloved that she's on camera duty from now on.  I've been saying it for a while, now, but my trusty old digital automatic is on it's last legs.  She's also the camera aficionado in the family, and it'll be good practice for her with macro stuff.

Next in the queue are some more FoW Soviets, and some Russian Hussars.  Also been assembling some of my 28mm Carthaginians, although I'm waiting on bases for them, so might be a while.  Until then, stay safe.

FMB

Russians. Yes, those Russians.

Hi all,

Finished up another unit of Russian line for Blucher.



This brigade is made up of battalions from the Volhynia and Tobolsk regiments.  Per my usual approach, the growing list is based on an oob from an actual period battle (Lutzen, in this case), but I'm not setting out to specifically recreate that battle.



I used some of the "skirmishing" figures I picked up in my last Baccus order on these.  Actually not sure whether I prefer these guys in their "action pose", or just more fellows marching.  We'll see if they grow on me.  Next up for the Russians will be some Hussars.  Going to try a slightly different approach with them than I did with my dragoons;  we'll see how it turns out.

FMB

More "French" Germans

Hi all,

I've got a few new units photographed and ready for posting (much to the relief of those of you who follow for historicals, I'm sure).  First in the queue is a new unit of Austrians for the Seven Years War,  composed of the Los Rios and Arenburg regiments.

Los Rios L, Arenburg R

This takes me, I think, to four completed infantry units for the Austrians.  I've got some cuirassier in the process of basing.  With the Russians, that gives me 6 infantry and 3 cavalry, well on the way to a combined force playable in games.

Among the little people.

Still some issues with painting these guys.  Part of it is that as older sculpts, they're just a little bit smaller than the newer stuff.  I find I'm struggling to get the clear colour distinction that helps make the little guys pop.  This is also, of course, also a product of my eyes not being what thye used to be.  I'm also not sure if I'd have been better to go with a dark grey undercoat for the white on the austrian uniforms.  The white over black is a little stark at times, but it varies depending on how far away you're looking.

I need to find a way to highlight black cartridge boxes in 6mm.

The next step would be to treat myself to some commanders and guns, before getting back to the infantry slog.  All the Austrian stuff I have comes from the older army packs.  These came with the little battalion guns, but not the heavies.  The Russians have big boys, however.  Not sure whether to do some of both, or just do the Russian arty, and save the Austrian popguns for some other purpose.

Next up is likely to be some FoW Russians I painted up a while back (but never posted for some reason), and then some 6mm Russians for Blucher.  Hope all of you out there are keeping safe.  The world out there is seeming a little darker these days.  Keep well.

FMB

Inaugural Blucher

Hi all,

Took advantage of a bad weather day to commandeer the dining room table, and run through a trial of the Blucher rules, by Sam Mustafa.  These attracted, I think, a fair amount of attention when they came out a few years back, but for those of you unfamiliar, they're his latest run at big-battle rules for the Napoleonic period.

Glam shot for posting purposes ;)

Units are brigade to division sized, and they're designed to handle the really big battles of the period.  They're also the rules system. for which I've been painting and basing my Napoleonic Russians.  I've had the rules for a while, and picked up the cards back around Christmas, but have only now gotten things out for a game.

Laying out the armies.  Cards act as a partial blind.  You know something is there, just not what it is.

Blucher is designed to be played with or without miniatures.  Cards can serve as both an introductory game mechanic (so you don't need completed armies prior to play), but also as a partial blind in the earlier stages of the game.  I put together some quick and dirty forces (3 core Russians vs. French, with 8 infantry, 3-4 cavalry, and 2 guns apiece), slapped down some terrain, and deployed.  Due the limitations of space (I think next time I'll break out the big cardboard underlayer), the front lines deployed close enough to be discovered in the opening turns.  Part of me has been thinking that smaller bases might have been a more practical approach for the game (in that table size keys off of of unit footprint), but if I'm doing napoleonics, I'm in it for the spectacle, so bigger bases are more fun.

My poor old camera.  At least part of the pic is in focus ;)

To give some structure to the game, I had three areas operate as objectives - the two "towns", and the crossroads.  The basic idea was an attack by the French to seize a crossroads and river crossing, with the Russians moving to prevent it.

Russian main line revealed by encroaching French.

The early stages of the battle saw the French pushing towards the Russian center, and the crossroads, while their cavalry corps tried to turn the Russian right flank, and envelop.  The French did try to advance on the Russian left, but found it harder to coordinate the attack on that flank.



That flank attacked was stymied by an absolutely courageous defense conducted by a brigade composed of battalions from the Perm and Sievsk regiments, who ended up holding off a sequence of attacks by waves of cavalry throughout the whole game.  "Prepared" infantry, while immobile, gain significant advantages in combat vs. cavalry, and the French inability to coordinate infantry and cavalry together (partly due to terrain), meant they were able to hold the flank.

View from the French left.

Attrition in the centre built up, while on the Russian left, both armies were able to eventually coordinate, and the French closed to skirmish distance.  They held their ground, and began a steady harrassing fire of the Russian line.

On the Russian left.  The Tsar's men take the hill, but the French move to challenge.

Some of the mechanisms of Blucher began to assert themselves at this point.  Artillery effect is essentially ablative; your guns' firepower degrades over time, as ammunition is used up.  The effect is that while artillery can wear down infantry, or if concentrated do real damage, sooner or later, the infantry has to move in.  This happened in the game, with both sides eventually using up their ammo, and retiring their guns.  Meanwhile, on the right, the Russian brigade still held the line.

Someone is getting a medal.  This brigade held off successive charges from the French cavalry from dawn to around 2pm.

On the left, the French advantage in skirmishing (they get a bonus, as the Russians do defending in combat), took it's toll, wearing down the brigades anchoring the Russian line.  Two of them broke, and the French moved in.  In the centre, fire and combat, plus the damage done by artillery, was wearing down both sides.  The French had an edge in infantry, but the casualties to the French cavalry compensated, and both sides were getting close to their breaking point.

The Russian cavalry reserve deploys.

At this point, the Russians activated their reserves.  Blucher allows units still "hidden" to make a reserve move in the game.  As long as they don't come too close to the enemy, units can rapidly redeploy in a single turn, and become revealed.  The Russians did this to their cavalry, partly to block the French cavalry's attempt to go around the stubborn Russian brigade blocking them, and partly to hold up the French attack on the left, which was gaining momentum.

The Russian left starting to falter.  After a slow start, the French pushed hard here.

Things were getting tense.  Several Russian units were on their last legs, and if the French could push an attack home, it was likely the shaken brigades wouldn't hold.  On the other hand, the French cavalry had shattered on the Russian right, and the remnants were driven off by the Russian reserves.  The next army to lose a unit, would lose the battle.

Artillery exhausted on both sides.  It's down to the PBI.

Can the cavalry ride to the rescue?

The Russian brigade anchoring the right is hanging by a thread.

Then the French unloaded a rippling line of fire, and the Russians, stouthearted as there were, blinked first.  Puddin', who was acting as my dice roller and general advisor, rolled a trip six for one French unit, knocking out a Russian brigade.  Their whole line recoiled, and the Russians gave up the field.

Never let the 8-year old roll the dice.  Unless she's rolling for me.

Undone by skirmish fire.  I assume the general was hit, and the whole brigade panicked.

This turned out to be a ripper of a game - despite it being a rather clumsy learning experience, and not really planned out at all.  The game seems to really be about army coordination; getting your bits to act together is really important, but a constant challenge.  It feels like you're coordinating an army.  The MO mechanic (a blind dice roll acts as a limit to action, but isn't revealed until exceeded) means you are constantly having to prioritize what parts of the battle need the most attention.  Combat is attrition-based.  Your units wear down to the point where they can become vulnerable, and if you don't have reserves or a second line, a whole wing can collapse with shocking rapidity.

Left-centre at end of game.

On a knife edge.  One more turn, and those Russian cavalry would have cracked open the French on the Russian left.

There's also a ton of untapped depth to the game.  I barely touched army building, terrain, and the scenario was strictly instrumental.  There's what looks like an excellent "campaign" system to set up battles - sort of a strategic mini-game informing the tactical game on-table.  There's also the sheer depth of the period itself.   It was also surprisingly conducive to solo play; the dice introduce enough randomness that whatever side you're playing has to react to events, and with a larger table I think the impact of the reserve option will be more evident.  Definitely glad I picked the rules up, and I will keep building towards a full army.

FMb