The Mighty Hoffhandel River

My recent Shako game at the Hangar on June 19 was a great time.

On the Italian/French side we had Generalissimo Callahan leading four divisions of Italians, with Marshal Dietrich coming on later with two divisions of French.

On the Prussian/British side we had Fieldmarshal Von Kidd commanding four divisions of Prussians, with Major-General Terry arriving with two divisions of British troops.

The game was interesting, with the two main forces taking different tactical approaches. The Italians were more hesitant than the Prussians, choosing mainly to hold onto the villages on their side of the river, while their divisions on the Italian left took up a defensive position to await the arrival of the British.

On the Prussian side, there was a very aggressive advance, on the Prussian left leading with two advance battalions of Guard Infantry, and in the center with charging columns of troops assaulting across the central bridge, led by Fusiliers but followed up by Regular Infantry and Reservist Battalions.

The British divisions arrived, and proceeded to take the upper hand (pretty quickly) against the Italians. At one point, an Italian battalion trying to withdraw to a defensible position between a forest and the river's edge, was ridden down by a unit of Royal Scots Greys.

Other action saw a battalion of French Grenadiers assaulting the village of Turnip, which was held at the time by some Prussian Reservist infantry. After a nasty firefight, the Grenadiers proceeded to oust the Prussian infantry, and the French held the town.

In the end it was a slight victory to the Italian/French side (13 VP to 10 VP), but might very well have changed if additional turns were played. The scenario was quite enjoyable, and deserves to be played again.

Some pictures are online at my Flickr site.

Tags: wargaming, miniatures, napoleonics, Shako

Crossing the Hoffhandel - ODMS game June 19

This is a fictional Napoleonic scenario, set in 1813. An Italian Corps encounters a Prussian Corps, during the fight to relieve Germany. The two forces meet, north to south, in a river valley, fighting over the network of roads and towns surrounding a few bridges of military value (sturdy, stone bridges). The game will be played June 19, at the Hangar.

Both sides have allies, not in the immediate area at the start of the battle, but 2 divisions of French are arriving from the East, and 2 divisions of British are arriving from the West.

The decisions of the French and British commanders at the start of the game determine their starting positions and turn of arrival, but these data are not known by the other players at the start of the game.

Here is the terrain at start of game:

And here is the initial deployment:

Tags: wargames, napoleonics

Great Game last night

At the weekly ODMS meeting, the chief of staff for Gaming with Chuck played a great game of Shako II last night with Wayne, vs. Kai and John Callahan.

The rules went a whole lot slower than in other recent games, but it was fun nevertheless.

The forces were:

Wayne & Chuck - three Allied Divisions (Prussians and Russians)
Kai & John - three French and Italian divisions

A meeting engagement in an open field (somewhat boring, but a good way to learn the basic rules).



Tags: napoleonics, wargaming, miniatures

Prepare for Basing

A batch of 1813 Prussians (enough, in fact, to do the Shako II 1813-1814 Prussian Standard Army referenced here) are assembled for Basing by the staff of Gaming with Chuck.

Bases to be used will be from Gale Force Nine. See the white chinese food container.

This is in preparation for the Shako II game being hosted at the Hangar (ODMS) in June. The game will be held on June 19, at 10:00am, and the scenario is called "Crossing the Hoffhandel". It is based on a mixed alliance on both sides (Prussian/British vs. Italian/French).

Tags: wargaming, miniatures, napoleonics, prussia

Spanish American War AAR - May 6

A recent ODMS game that I presented on May 6 was a pretty good success. There were six players, three to a side, commanding a Division of Spanish (4 brigades) vs. a Division of US (4 brigades).The Spanish held a hill - La Colina Verde - which is central in the hills south of Puerto Gris (the capital of San Balkano). The US force, approaching from the South, come up all south east of the Azzuro river, which cuts through the hills. The Spanish force was located in the hills, and the central hill had a walled town on it, which was defended by a brigade of Spanish.The Spanish troops had been on the island for years, fighting against Insurrectos, so were quite experienced in jungle fighting, and using the cover of the island to their best advantage. Because of this, they gained an advantage when firing from under cover in the jungle.The rules used were a simplified version of "A Splendid Little War" - a version of my age of rifles wargaming rules also used for RJW and other gaming.The US approached, as expected, heavily in the center and a little bit on the eastern flank. There, on the East, they got held up by battalions of Spanish Foreign Legion in the jungle for a few turns, before moving past them. On the west, they moved up along the Azzuro river, and met a few units of Spanish Naval Infantry that tied up that brigade.In the center, the two brigades assaulting the hill were peppered by Spanish artillery (German guns, of course), but eventually made it to the hills and fought over the defenses. The Spanish, once fighting inside the towns, were bested by the US troops.

A good game.

Tags: miniatures, wargaming, Balkania

War is Declared! - Spanish American War

Over at the ODMS website, here, and here there are articles about an upcoming Spanish American War game.

This game features the rules I wrote (borrowing heavily from influences such as the Brom Standard rules, as well as the Jackson Gamers RCW rules) for both RJW and RCW, but modified for the Spanish American War.

I borrowed the Brom mechanism of activating brigades (each about 3-6 units) by card flip. Each side also has a "bonus" card in the deck, which allows for a bonus move by one brigade.

The main changes to the rules include changes to reflect the Spanish smokeless gunpowder - while they are under cover in jungle/forest, they can fire out but can not be fired at. Also, I disassociated the morale level of a unit from it's size. It is now possible to have different sized units, and big units with low morale, and small units with high morale. I'll report back after some playtesting how this goes, and it may make its way into the RCW rules.

Chuck

Tags: Spanish American War

Punic War Fun

The ODMS Blog has an After Action Review of a Punic War battle, fought September 10, at the Hangar.

The game was pretty good, but the Roman side used completely the wrong (ahistorical) army list. We used the Early Imperial Roman army list, rather than the Republican Roman army list. I would like to fight a similar battle again (using Warhammer Ancient Battles, with armies of 4000 points per side) using the proper army lists (from "Hannibal" - the Punic Wars supplement).

Some inspiration . . .

A good video of Zama, using live action dramatization. The Elephants and the anti-Elephant tactics are good.


A two part, more in-depth exploration of the battle of Zama, and some Punic War background. Relies a lot on computer animation, but it is good.








Tags: punic wars

Ancients on the Rise at ODMS

ODMS is witnessing a rise in the frequency of Ancient and Medieval wargaming.

To whit - recently we have seen much DBA, some Warmaster Ancients (Moors vs. Vikings; Moors vs. Reconquista Spanish), some HotT (okay, more fantasy than ancients, but it is DBA-ish), some Field of Glory, some Warrior.

Upcoming we have more DBA (month long tournament in June), more HotT, more Warrior (Dave on 28th of May), more FoG, Warhammer Ancients on May 21st.

Good Times, my friends, Good Times.
Tags:

'Twas a Sunday Night

A Sunday night without the family. Jon K was due to come over, and have dinner with us. But I just couldn't sit in an empty house and cook - so we went out for chinese buffet. Make mine Mongolian. And then, to follow up with the Mongolian theme, we went over to Carl's House (AKA - the Hangar) and played a game of Oasis. Mongol Hordes as far as the eye can see. And the occasional Ovoo. Whatever they are.

I love Oasis - there is just enough planning, and enough "stick it to your neighbor" that it is more of a thinking game than a drinking game. You could play it as a mindless reactionary drinking game - which we have - but it really has some nice strategy involved. And you don't have to be a card counter like John S to make it count.

While over at the Hangar, we discussed Peter Pig, and the prospects of further Peter Pig imports to Brookhurst Hobbies (the US source for the Pig). Probably not, with the weak dollar. And it looks as if the fine folks at the Pig (more Oink for your Buck) are looking to distribute directly more often. Sigh. That means I may have to go to UK with my Russian Civil War business. So be it.


Tags: oasis, boardgames, historical miniatures, Russian Civil War