Talavera In 3D - Turn One

Map

Ready for the off

My three activation dice land 4, 2, 1. I reroll the 1, getting a 5.

Both cavalry units in area 2 advance two hexes, and I move the infantry in area 4 and 5 forward a hex each.

The AI's four activation dice land 6, 5, 3, 1. Wildcard 6 is rerolled, becoming a 2.

In area 1 the infantry roll a 1, but 1 & 2 only have an effect if there is a nearby hex with trees in it.

The infantry in area 2 also roll a 1, and the artillery do not move as they cannot move to a hex that would put enemy troops in range and line-of-sight.

In area 3 the cavalry advance diagonally right two hexes, putting them behind the large hill, three hexes away from my further-forward horsemen. The infantry advance diagonally right.

In area 5 the cavalry advance two hexes into the trees behind Talavera. The forward infantry occupy the trees directly ahead of them. The rearward infantry also advance a hex.

The right-flank French cavalry, although sheltering behind high ground, may find they have advanced precipitately if I am able to activate units in area 2 next turn

Talavera In 3D - Setting Up

Map - orientated with East at the top

I win if, at the end of turn 10, there are more Allied than French units east of La Portiña, a tributary of the River Tagus.

I have gone for exactly the same setup as before

That may show a lack of imagination, but really Wellesley's options are limited, and I could not come up with a better formation.

The AI has set up with a strengthened left flank

The AI set up very differently first time through

Talavera In 3D

THE 13th scenario in Mike Lambo's Battles Of Napoleonic Europe is the Battle of Talavera, with the human taking on the persona of Sir Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington.

He commands an Anglo-Germano-Spanish force of five units of infantry, two of cavalry and one of artillery.

The AI has Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan (mistakenly called Marshal Soult in the book) and an all-French army consisting of seven units of infantry, two of cavalry and one of artillery.

Map of the battlefield - the Allies start below the red dashed line

Map converted to 3D, using Hexon II tiles and a variety of scenic items from my collection

My Allied army - the figures are 10mm-scale by WoFun of Transylvania

The French army

Going into this scenario, my 3D score against the AI is 7-4, or 7-5 if the battle I started a unit short is included.

At the same stage first-time through, using maps and counters from Lambo's book, I led 7-6, having played one scenario twice (if the replay is excluded, the score was tied 6-6).

Inglorious

I RECENTLY spent £16, plus £5 post and packing, on 100 10mm Philistines from Old Glory.

There was no photo of them at the company website, but, I thought, what could go wrong?

The answer is that instead of 100 figures, I received 20 blocks of five figures, joined not only at the base, but at the shoulder and arm, so there is no possibility of separating them.

Complete waste of money

Slingshot 363

THE Mar/Apr issue of the Society of Ancients' magazine Slingshot has a wide variety of articles to suit many tastes.

Slingshot 363 - something for almost everyone

But the one thing it does not have is a wargame, ie a report on a battle fought on the tabletop.

I play a lot of chess, and I would be astounded if I were to buy a chess magazine and found it did not contain a single chess game.

I realise the hobbies are not identical, even if one arguably evolved from the other - "chess with a thousand pieces," etc. Nevertheless ...

Adding Stability

LAST year I bought two slightly different packs of 54mm-scale trees in preparation for relaunching Project Kaiser, my refighting of the Franco-Prussian War.

I was very pleased with the purchase, except that the trees in one pack proved unstable.

Stability has been fixed, or at least vastly improved, by fixing steel washers to the bottom of the trees' bases

The 12 trees standing proud

The contents of both packs

Palms

LAST month, on a visit to Bavaria, I found a set of palm trees that should go well with my 10mm biblical project.

I knew when I bought them there was next-to-no-chance of the trees standing by themselves.

But they are absolutely fine on leftover 20x20mm steel bases from my War of the Austrian Succession project

Midianite archers defending the same palm grove

Tree-mendous!

MY recent purchase of a pack of 15 deciduous trees in Bavaria means I now have quite a forest of 10mm-scale trees, both evergreen and deciduous.

A good mix

Updated Biblical Cheat-Sheet

HERE is a cheat-sheet for the core of my adapted rules for fighting biblical-era battles with 10mm miniatures.

They are based on Neil Thomas's rules in Ancient & Medieval Wargaming, but you will need that book for specific points not covered here, and in general for how the rules operate on the tabletop.

Some of the adaptations are a result of my studying the period, and of how I like a wargame to work, with some adapted from Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame books.

MOVEMENT

Open-order cavalry, light chariots: 24cm

Close-order cavalry, heavy chariots, camelry: 20cm

Open-order infantry, auxiliary infantry: 12cm

Close-order infantry: 8cm

Turning more than 30° from straight-ahead costs half the movement allowance, except for open-order troops, camelry and light chariots, who are not penalised.

Variation: when a unit tries to use at least 75% of its movement allowance, roll a die, a 6 meaning 25% is added to the distance covered, a 1 meaning 25% is deducted.

MISSILE RANGES

Foot bows and slings: 24cm

Mounted bows: 20cm

Javelins: 8cm

Archers as well as javelinmen can shoot at attackers who make contact after having started more than 8cm away.

HITS

5+ on a die scores a hit. If it is not saved, use the following table:

Quality of unit hit  Lose base  Fall back 3cm

Elite                            1-2             3-6

Average                      1-3             4-6

Levy                            1-4             5-6

A unit that cannot fall back, either straight or within 30° of straight back, eg it is blocked by impassable terrain, by enemy troops or by friendly troops not in open-order, or it would leave the battlefield, loses a base.

A unit in a melee whose opponent falls back may follow up and immediately force another round of hand-to-hand fighting, provided the player's unit suffered fewer hits than its falling-back opponent.

MORALE

The general's unit receives a +1 modifier when testing morale.

If the unit is destroyed, every friendly unit in line-of-sight tests its morale immediately; every other friendly unit tests its morale at the start of the army's next turn.

Scene from a battle fought between Egyptians and Hebrews in late-2024 using Thomas's unmodified rules

Biblical Update - Other Changes & Clarifications

An army is defeated once the number of its units falls below half, rather than, as in Neil Thomas's biblical rules in Ancient & Medieval Wargaming, once the number falls to a quarter.

This is, perhaps, not such a big change as might appear at first sight, at least when both sides start with eight units, as "below half" means three units and "a quarter" is two units.

However, I reserve the right in my battles to sometimes vary from the standard starting strength of eight units.

A battle beginning early in the morning can normally last 15 turns before nightfall.

Troops in difficult terrain use the same combat table as for fighting in woods.

Troops behind cover receive an extra die per base in the first round of a melee.

Gadites sheltering in a palm grove