Waterloo - The French Perspective

My latest reading has been Andrew Field’s book ‘Waterloo: The French Perspective’.

It’s an old adage that history is written by the winners and that is certainly true for Waterloo. It is even alleged that Wellington supported a smear campaign against Siborne because his research questioned parts of the Duke’s version of events. The author of that allegation, Peter Hofschroer, also wrote a book on the Waterloo campaign, the second volume of which is called ‘The German Victory’. The Duke really would have turned in his grave at that!

Waterloo was of course a massive battle in terms of the men involved, even if the battlefield wasn’t that large. However, even walking it 200 years later, I was struck by how difficult it was see all parts of the battlefield - there was no Lion monument in 1815! Added to which you have the general’s curse on any black powder battlefield, smoke.

For this reason, even the memoirs of those present, can only cover a relatively small part of the battlefield. And that’s before any historical revisionism comes in.

Andrew Field has done a wonderful job pulling together French perspectives of the battle. It gives a very different picture of the battle and questions what those of us brought up on the classic British histories have come to believe about the battle. He doesn’t claim to have discovered radically different ‘truths’, but he does offer some very different explanations.

For example, I always understood that the action at Hougoumont, drew in greater numbers of French troops from Reille’s Corps, almost to Blenheim proportions. In this book it is argued that many more Allied troops were engaged in the vicinity of the farm, bringing each side up to similar numbers. There also appears to have been two, if not three, break ins.

Field also discusses the type of column d’Erlon used in his attack, suggesting that the wide formation was influenced by his experience of fighting the British in Spain. They certainly did not come on ‘in the same old way’. This still leaves open the wisdom of experimenting in such a crucial battle, but he does explain the problems in coordinating the classic cavalry, artillery and infantry combined arms assault. Similarly, the great cavalry charges were not entirely without precedent and may have been forced on Napoleon by the arrival of the Prussians. 

Field goes on to examine the other key elements of the battle - La Haye Sainte, the sunken road, Planchenoit and the commitment and formation of the Guard. Liberally quoting from French and Allied sources. 

This is a fascinating book and an absolute must for the Waterloo collection.

The Men Who Would Be Kings

First try yesterday of the latest Osprey Wargames rules, 'The Men Who Would Be Kings'. These are written by Daniel Mersey, the author of Lion Rampant and have a number of design similarities.

These are quick play skirmish rules for the colonial period - roughly Sikh Wars to the Boer Wars. Skirmish in this context means 40-50 figures a side, more for the native armies, although there is 'skirmish kings' options to play with half sized units. There is also a very useful solo gaming chapter called 'Playing against Mr Babbage'.

A Field Force consists of a around five units, each of which has a leader, the competency of which is diced for in each game. A European force might consist of regular infantry and irregular auxiliaries. Infantry units have 12 figures, cavalry 8 - while tribal units are 16 for foot and 10 for horse. There are rules for artillery, but they are assumed to be light mountain guns or machine guns.

Each unit is diced for in the activation phase, needing to equal or exceed the leader's command factor. If passed, the unit can take one action - move, double, skirmish, shoot, attack etc. Some are free actions, like regulars can always fire without dicing - tribal units can always attack. Shooting and combat are straightforward rolls for each figure, having to equal or exceed the units firing factor. Cover and other factors are accounted for in the number of hits needed to kill e.g. long range and soft cover needs two hits. If a unit suffers casualties it takes a pinning test. Pinned units have to rally next move rather than take an active action.

For my trial game, I decided on a more obscure colonial conflict. The Ottomans occupied the Middle East from the 16th Century until the 20th Century. Egypt strayed in and out of the Empire, but the core lands in Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and modern Iraq had Ottoman garrisons throughout. The Arabian Peninsular was also garrisoned, although control of the interior was patchy at best. There were major wars with the Saudis and lower scale conflicts with the Kurds and Bedouins. Policing actions were commonplace, very much at the scale these rules are aimed at.

The army lists are set out below for the Ottomans and an Arab field force of the standard 24 point size.

The game was a simple encounter game around a a small village. The Ottoman regulars held off the Arabs on the left, but the Arab right wing swept around the village rolling up the Ottoman line.

The rules played very well and like Lion Rampant they are simple mechanisms, yet subtle in their application. This was perhaps an unusual game given the number of tribal cavalry on the table. Cavalry are possibly a bit strong, with infantry needing two hits per figure. I am not sure what the justification is for this and it certainly made the Bedouin and Arab cavalry very difficult to beat. Other than that, the rules provided a quick game, with plenty of colonial flavour. It's certainly faster play than Sharp Practice 2. I will be playing more of this.

Sharp Practice 2 - Jacobite Rebellions

I do enjoy an alternative history, and my latest reading has been Year of the Prince by George Kearton. 

As he says in the introduction, for over 50 years at the beginning of the eighteenth century, thousands of Britons would not drink to the health of their regnant Royal Family. Instead, after passing an open hand surreptitiously over their glass, they would drink a toast to “The King over the Water”; a reference to the heirs of the exiled House of Stuart. The final Stuart attempt to regain the throne failed in 1745. But what if history had turned out differently?

I won't ruin the book for you, but it's a good short read and not too fanciful. Like many events in history, it only takes a small a bit of luck, bad weather etc to create a very different outcome.

As I am exploring Sharp Practice 2 at present, this was an opportunity to dust down the forces I did last year for the 300th anniversary of the battle of Sherrifmuir 1715. This was an earlier Jacobite rebellion and involved the legendary Rob Roy, an ideal character for Sharp Practice. I also fancied trying the rules out in a town setting.

We start with some preliminary baiting. A bare arsed highlander taunting the lowland Scots militia. Should they hold their first fire for a bigger target?

Rob Roy is getting a little frustrated here with these Jacobite gentlemen, who are not rushing to support his clansmen's charge. Too many tiffin breaks!

Here we have the highland charge from both angles. The tomahawk rule works well.

And finally, a celebratory drink for Rob and his men. Job done!

Game of Thrones - The Riverlands

Time to return to other painting projects after doing little other than Pancho Villa.

For Game of Thrones, I have switched from Saga to Lion Rampant rules. That means six figure cavalry units. I had some spare Lord of the Rings figures to bulk out the Lannister's and the Stark's.

Next stop is some allies. The Riverlands went both ways and looking at the last episodes of the TV series, I was struck by how so many of the cavalry looked like Border Reivers. So I picked up some Foundry Reivers at a recent show. The pistols had to be shaved off, but otherwise fine. A (sort of) Tully flag from Battle Flags finishes them off. Next stop some infantry.

Matters 19th Century

I was listening to one of the highly recommended History Network podcasts on my Sunday morning walk. This one covered the history of the torpedo and briefly mentioned that the first successful torpedo attack in history was during the Russo-Turkish War. The naval aspects of this conflict have largely passed me by.

On January 25, 1878, two Russian steam cutters “Chesma” and “Sinop”, successfully sank the Turkish ship “Intibach”. The steam cutters belonged to the steamboat “Grand Prince Konstantin”, the fastest Russian ship of the Black Sea Fleet. The commander of the steamboat, Lieutenant Stepan Makarov, was genuinely interested in new technologies and new weapons, having already completed a number of operations against the Turkish fleet. More on this clash here.

On the subject of 19th Century conflicts, SteveBarber Models have brought out a new range of 28mm figures for the 1848 revolutionary wars. Needless to say the Hungarian figures caught my eye, they look fabulous. Austrian's are on the way.

I was tempted to try this when Ralf Weaver brought out his book on the subject (Hungarian Army 1848-49 from Partizan Press), but couldn't settle on a figure range to convert. This new range settles that problem when you consider that it will be perfect for Sharp Practice 2.

While on this subject I should also give a mention to Outpost Miniatures, Russo-Turkish War range. They have added Romanians to the range, again very nice.

A Wounded Realm

This is the second book in the 'Blood of Kings' series by K.M.Ashman. I reviewed the first one, 'A Land Divided', in June. The setting is post-Norman conquest Wales.

The second book takes up the story some 12 years later. The 'Hero' of the first book, Gruffydd ap Cyan still languishes in the prison of Hugh the Fat, a Norman marcher lord. An opportunistic escape, allowed him to flee to Ireland where he recovered, and in an alliance with the Vikings, captures Ynys Mon (Anglesey).

This book takes in more of the English power struggles of the time. The link is a Welsh princess who becomes the mistress of William II's brother Henry, who takes the throne on William's death in a hunting accident, or maybe not so accidental - the author unsurprisingly plumps for the latter.

We have a good siege at Pembroke, one of the castles the Normans built to consolidate their lands. And finally, the dramatic rescue of another Welsh prince, Hywel ap Rhys from the Norman castle at Hen Domen.

The storyline in this book is bittier than the epic struggles of the first, but the author captures well the complex power struggles between squabbling Welsh kingdoms, the marcher lords and the English crown. It has all you could want in historical fiction, while keeping pretty close to the historical record, such as it is.

Really enjoyed this again and looking forward the the third book when it is published.

Here is a photo of a Lion Rampant clash I played out when I finished the book with Welsh spearmen facing up to the dreaded charge of Norman knights.

Cold War Commander - Greek/Turkish border

Recent events in Turkey reminded me to dust down my 1/300th micro armour collection of modern Turkish forces, together with the Greeks, for a fictional (I hope) clash on the border. 

Greek-Turkish rivalries are long standing, and despite both being NATO members, they maintain significant forces on the common border. There have been many attempts to resolve their outstanding differences in the Aegean and Cyprus, but with limited progress.

It has been argued (Heraclides 2011) that this lack of progress is because various incompatible conflicts are but the tip of the iceberg. The real reasons for the impasse, the essence of the rivalry, are the historical memories and traumas, real or imagined that are part and parcel of their national narratives, together with their respective collective identities which are built on slighting and demonising each other.

The next question was, what rules should I use? My rules of choice for the modern period has been Modern Spearhead. It's a good system, even if the movement mechanism is a bit clunky. A game at a pals introduced me to Cold War Commander, the modern version of Blitzkrieg Commander. I bought a PDF version of both rules, but lost them when I thought iBooks backed up on the Cloud - warning, it doesn't! You can't buy a set at present because Pendraken have bought them and are planning to update them (sadly a delayed project), but I borrowed my pals spare copy.

Cold War Commander is a fast play system, with some fairly simple mechanisms that can be picked up quickly. Each command (typically a battalion) has a command value and you can move, fire etc by rolling below that value. When you get close, an initiative stage allows one move without an order. Each base (typically representing a platoon) has movement and firing stats on army lists in the rules. You roll a number of dice for hits and armoured units have a saving throw. Lots of abstractions, but the game flows quickly and I like them.

Onto the game. This is the table with the Greek armoured battlegroup nearest and the Turkish equivalents crossing the river. The objective is the small town. 

The Turkish infantry win the race for the town, but their supporting tank units are a bit slow.

This enables the Greek infantry to capture the town supported fully by their own tanks. Both sides had artillery and air support, but they didn't dominate.

I enjoyed this game, which has rekindled my interest in the period.

Sharp Practice 2: Austro-Turkish Wars - Peterwardein 1716

This month is the 300th anniversary of the Battle of Peterwardein in 1716. The Austrian's, led by Prince Eugene, defeated the Ottoman Turks. The Fortress of Peterwardein (Petrovaradin) is on the Danube, opposite the modern Serbian city of Novi Sad.

GDWS did a big display game of this battle at Claymore in 2006, as part of a series we called Eugene in the Balkans. With Sharp Practice 2 I thought I would dust down some of the figures and scenery.

Here is the table with part of the fortress on the left and the Ottoman siege works on the right.

Sipahis supported by light cavalry attacking an Austrian formation in the centre.

Janissaries and Arnaut skirmishers on the left engage with another Austrian infantry formation supported by Croats.

And on the right Austrian Dragoons and Croat Hussars engage more Ottoman cavalry.

The Sipahis as impact cavalry were too strong for the Austrian dragoons, although they lost too many casualties to successfully follow up into the Croats. The Jannisaries were defeated by the Austrian foot as were the Sipahis in the centre. All this seemed about right, albeit its only one game.

How to classify Ottoman units is a challenge in most Horse and Musket rules, particularly Jannisaries. I made them regular, but not controlled volleys and aggressive as well as ignoring the no bayonets rule, because of their swords.

My army lists are set out below and I would welcome any thoughts from other players. Thanks.

 This is a link to Serbian TV coverage (starts at 3:12) of the exhibition prepared for the centenary. Nice diorama as well.

2017 War with Russia

My holiday fiction reading was '2017 War with Russia' by General Sir Richard Shirreff. He is a former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander at NATO. 

The book argues that under President Putin, Russia has charted a dangerous course that may lead to a clash with NATO. He is encouraged by the failure to stand strong in the face of Russian aggression and the cuts in NATO's conventional military capacity. It tells the story of how, thanks to a series of misjudgements and policy blunders, NATO and the West stumble into a catastrophic war with Russia. UK Defence cuts come in for particular criticism.

The scenario is a Russian invasion of the Baltic states on the pretext of defending the Russian minority population, as in the Ukraine. NATO fails to deter the attack due to political dithering and it is left to local forces to continue a guerrilla war. The counterattack is eventually pulled together and they choose to attack the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, to effectively barter it for the Baltic states. The attack is led by US units, assisted by a cyber attack from the UK.

The story is told at the strategic level through the NATO commanders and the political leaders. In parallel, there is a tactical story of a Mercian Regiment officer stranded in Lativa on a training mission and a Spetsnaz officer.

The political message is predictable from a former General with arguably only a limited grasp of the wider political context of defence cuts. However, whatever view you take of the politics, this is a good story, well told. Certainly a must read for modern wargamers. 

Sharp Practice 2 - Peninsular War

My second game of Sharp Practice 2 was in traditional Sharp territory - the Peninsular War.

Two 70 point armies. The 'French' were actually mostly Polish, Italian and Irish troops against a British force. Both sides had three leaders.

This is the tabletop after the deployment moves, British on the right.

The first clash was a cavalry battle between Polish Lancers and British Light Dragoons. The Brits won, but next move got canistered by the Polish artillery and fled.

The main Polish advance is met by skirmishing rifles and controlled volleys from the British line with artillery support. They didn't get very far.

On the left flank the Italians advanced through a wood and gave the Rifles and Highlanders a hard time. Score draw this one by the time the French morale had collapsed.

Good game, but now I am beginning to get a grasp of the rules, I need a better QRF. Too much flicking through pages.

1914 Serbia Must Die

I am not a huge fan of board wargames, but I am inevitably drawn to one covering a Balkan subject. So, I was parted with my cash at Claymore for '1914 Serbien muss sterbien (Serbia must die)'. This was the jingoistic jingle shouted throughout the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the outbreak of war.

For £36 you get a very nice map of northern Serbia and the surrounding regions (modern day Croatia and Bosnia), counters for the units at divisional level with some brigades and regiments, as well as supply and other game markers. 

The playbook offers four scenarios. An introductory scenario for the August 1914 Battle of the Macva, followed by the grand campaign and finally the Serbian counterattack over the Drina. The fourth scenario is an alternative history in which Russia does not intervene and the Empire is allowed a short punitive war with a significant numerical superiority.

Regular boardgamers will no doubt be familiar with the game mechanics of this type of game. For those who are not, it’s very hard going. The sample of play in the playbook is helpful, but you are still left with some overly complex mechanics which make for very slow play. However, I concede that it is a very good way of understanding the campaign. There is a decent bibliography, to which I would add Max Hastings' ‘Catastrophe: Europe Goes to War’, for a sense of the chaotic Austrian advance. I summarise the opening shots here, with some pictures of tabletop models.

I would have bought this game just for the map and counters - using them for a campaign that fights the battles on the tabletop. Otherwise, it’s one for the specialist boardgamers and a headache for everyone else.

Battle of Evesham 1265

Heading back from a trip to my Mum’s we stopped off at Evesham, site of the decisive battle of the Second Baron’s War on 4 August 1265.

After the Battle of Lewes in 1264, Simon de Montfort held King Henry III and was the effective ruler of England. However, Henry’s son Edward escaped and gathered an army that challenged Montfort at Evesham.

Edward and the Royalists took position on the high ground just north of the town. Montfort was probably outnumbered two to one, so he decided to concentrate his forces hoping to drive a wedge through the centre of the Royalist line. However, the attack lost momentum and the flanks of the royal army closed in on Montfort's troops, massacring them.

Most of the baronial rebels were killed on the battlefield rather than taken prisoner and ransomed, setting a precedent that reached its conclusion in the Wars of the Roses. Montfort and one of his sons died fighting and King Henry was rescued.

The war petered out with a negotiated settlement that allowed rebel barons to buy their property back.

The battlefield is largely farmland and woods today and is marked by a battlefield trail and information boards, as well as an obelisk and a tower. The town has a small museum with a room dedicated to the battle, next to a largely ruined abbey. It also has a very well stocked model soldier shop!

I haven't gamed the battle, but we did a display game that featured Montfort's equally ferocious dad, another Simon, at the Battle of Muret 1213. For further reading I would recommend John Sadler's book on the Second Barons' War.

One of the monuments

An information board at the battlewell site

Looking down from the Royalist position

Claymore 2016

It was the Claymore show in Edinburgh today. A good collection of traders and a balance between display and participation games.

We did a participation game, a lot more effort than our more usual display format, but worth it. We had a steady flow of gamers for our 28mm game, Pancho Villa and the Gold Train. The outcome was two all, so the scenario was at least balanced. Very pleased to be in the Gym Hall as the Atrium can get very hot.

I only had time for one tour around the other games and traders, but these are the games that caught my eye.

Another nice Bolt Action game with good scenery.

The buildings in this game, Littleness Designs I think, were very nice.

The Falkirk club's massive Boxer Rebellion game.

ECW battle of York in 1644.

First time I have seen Cannae done in a way that shows off Hannibal's double envelopment so well.

This sc-fi game wins the prize for busiest table!

Custer's last stand always makes a good participation game

SAGA showing off their forthcoming battle rules, Swordpoint.

The Lardies on a similar mission with Sharp Practice

Kirriemuir with another big ancients game, Gaugamela.

Arnhem from the Aberdeen folks.

Spearhead Tobruk from Glasgow Tradeston.

And finally, League of Augsburg.

Numbers seemed pretty good and thanks to the South East Scotland club for putting the show on.