History Today

I HAD not read History Today for many years until I recently spotted a copy at WH Smith in a new, eye-catching format.
Having caught my attention, a brief perusal of the contents turned me into a buyer again.
The latest issue, August 2017, has been out for at least a week - I bought it while playing at the Scottish chess championships in Dundee earlier this month.

 

History Today...revised interest

Nearly every article was of interest to me, even if at times there is a tendency to be overly revisionist. The cover, for example, may be clever but the fact is that in any normal usage of the word, it was Columbus who "discovered" indigenous Americans, not the other way around.

Mid-18th Century Wargaming Rules - Updated Summary

Action from our refight of the Battle of Chotusitz

New bits, including bits accidentally omitted from previous summaries, are in italics

COMMAND & CONTROL
Players move alternately. When it is his turn, a player should use the following sequence.
1. Roll a 10-sided die and two ordinary, but distinguishable, six-sided dice to determine how many Pips, also known as activation points, the centre and each flank get. Then, for each sector in turn, use the pips in the following sequence.
2. Try to rally retreating units.
3. Fire guns (a gun that is fired cannot pivot, limber or otherwise move in the same turn).
4. Move units.
5. Calculate the effects of musketry (and carbines and any other missile weapon).
5. Resolve melees.

MOVEMENT
Foot in firing order and so able to fire volleys: 6cm
Other foot: 8cm
Limbered guns: 6cm
Heavy horse: 10cm
Light horse and generals: 12cm
It takes an activation point to adopt firing order, and the unit may not otherwise move or fire.
Horse take an activation point to mount or dismount and may not otherwise move or fire.
Guns take an activation point to limber or unlimber, but the gun may be pivoted as part of unlimbering.
One about-face of 180 degrees is free, but a second in the same phase reduces movement by half.
All troops can pass through light infantry without penalty, provided they have enough movement to take them beyond the light infantry. Similarly, light infantry can interpenetrate any friendly troops.
The Variation
Roll a die if a unit is moving three-quarters or more of its maximum move distance. 6, add 25%; 1, subtract 25%.

MUSKETRY
45-degree arc.
Muskets: 8cm. Carbines 6cm.
Roll one die for each 25% of effectiveness remaining and in a single line of bases.
Minimum score for a hit: Regular foot in firing order, 4; Light foot, 5; Dismounted horse and regular foot not in firing order, 6.
-1 if unit moved that phase.

ARTILLERY
45-degree arc.
Canister: 0-6cm. Roll a die and halve the score to get the number of potential hits.
Roundshot: up to 24cm. Roll a die and quarter the score.
Halve the number of potential hits if unit effectiveness 50% or under. Round to nearest fraction, but an exact half has a 50:50 chance of becoming a potential hit.
Dice for each potential hit. 4 or more becomes a hit on infantry and cavalry, but 6 is needed if the target is a gun.

MELEES
A melee happens when the bases of rival units come in contact. The second half of the attacker's move to make contact must be in a straight line, ie it cannot include wheeling.
Foot may not initiate contact against horse.
Guns and light foot never initiate contact and never inflict melee casualties (exception: light foot in a wood or built-up area melee as regular foot).
Guns can only be contacted if they have no friendly close-order foot within 4cm. Guns so contacted are automatically eliminated.
Infantry frontally contacted by troops whose move began outside of musket range may fire before the melee is calculated. Casualties inflicted by the firing are included when calculating who won the melee. Troops armed with carbines have a similar rule but must roll a die score of 3 or better to fire.
Roll the following numbers of dice per 25% of a unit's remaining effectiveness.
Enemy unit...........Hvy Cav...Lance...Lt Cav...Inf fir ord*...Other Inf...Lt Inf
Own unit
Heavy Cavalry.........1................2..........2...............1.................3................2
Lancers.....................1................1..........1...............1.5..............4................4
Light Cavalry...........1................2..........1...............1.................2................3
Inf (not Lt)................1................1.........1................1.................1................1
*Infantry in firing order and attacked frontally
+1 die per 25% when attacking in flank or rear, on higher ground, defending a river bank or defending a built-up area from troops outside the BUA. Bonuses are cumulative. An exact half has a 50:50 chance of becoming a potential hit.
A unit meleed from the rear loses half its number of dice in the initial round of combat.
For each die rolled, a 4 or more is a hit.

SAVING THROWS
Behind cover: 4 or more cancels a hit.
Cuirassiers: 6 cancels a hit.

MORALE
Test at the end of any half-turn in which a unit has lost effectiveness to firing or has lost a melee.
Roll a die, needing the following minimum score not to lose a further 25% effectiveness: Elite, 3; Regular, 4; Poor, 5.
+1 if a general is attached to the unit. He is eliminated if the unit is eliminated.
+1 if a friendly unit (not light infantry or guns) is to the rear and could reach the unit in two moves. Such a supporting unit can only influence the morale of one unit per half-turn.
A unit that fails its morale, and a unit that loses more hits in a melee regardless of whether it fails its morale, retreats one move (with the normal possible variation), ending with its back to the enemy.
A retreating unit is eliminated if the first move of a retreat is obstructed by regular foot (not light infantry) or horse. If the blocking unit is friendly, it must take a morale test unless it is horse retreated into by foot.
On subsequent turns in which a retreating unit's army has activation points, it will be rallied for at the start of the army's turn, requiring a 5 or better to halt and being able to subsequently return to normal action. A general with a unit adds one to the rallying throw.
Note that regular foot lose firing order when retreating and so have an 8cm move.

VICTORY
General, 3pts; Infantry battalion, 2pts, Other unit, 1pt.
Army is defeated when points fall below half the starting total.

Miniature Wargmes

THE August issue of Miniature Wargames arrived while I was away.

Articles include a long and very positive review of Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame books (enough to make me skim through the second book again) and some light ideas on campaigns.

Battle of Eckwelt - Afterthoughts

As night falls, Maurice de Saxe, escorted by the Cuirassiers du Roi, triumphantly enters Ekwelt

The first thing to say is that the new Command & Control system was all we hoped it would be. It provided a sufficient degree of uncertainty without allowing the lopsided swings of my previous card-based scheme.
I did not keep a record of how many pips we each received, but I think any edge to the French was minimal. My opponent felt the pips fell evenly...naturally.
So what can I blame my loss on, especially bearing in mind that the defeat was pretty comprehensive?
Certainly, the terrain greatly favoured the French, as the woods seriously disrupted my formation. But I have to tip my hat to my opponent's shrewd strategy. He correctly realised I would be forced to place the bulk of my cavalry on the eastern flank, so he placed ALL of his horse there and trusted that I would not be able to outflank him on the western side of the battlefield.
In hindsight, and perhaps it did not need hindsight to spot, I made a serious mistake in putting two squadrons of cuirassiers on my right. Because of the two lines of bluecoats in front of them, they could not get into the battle until it was too late.
What was gratifying is that the battle seemed, at least to us, to play out just as a mid-18th century battle should. And that, for me, is the main point.

Battle of Eckwelt - part five

TURN SEVEN
Defeat seemed inevitable for me as I lost two more battalions - the 1st Winterfeldt and the Grevenitz - reducing my Army Points to 15.
One more point lost and my army would break, and that seemed inevitable when my Buddenbrcck Cuirassiers were charged in the flank by the Dragoons du Roi.. The Dragoons got eight dice to roll thanks to their flank attack, but only managed one hit (a hit requires a score of four or more). The cuirassiers rolled four dice, and scored a hit with each one, destroying the dragoons.
In my half of the turn, I eliminated the Alsace Foot.
The Garde du Corps charged home on the Wittmer Foot, who had been unable to fire in their half of the turn as Saxe had used all his left-flank pips on artillery fire, mistakenly forgetting to leave one for the Swiss infantry - another example of incompetence in the heat of battle! But it hardly mattered - the stout Swiss held firm and repulsed the horsemen.
On my left flank, the Buddenbrock Cuirassiers, elated after their unexpected defeat of the Dragoons du Roi, charged the rallied Languedoc Dragoons, but the melee was indecisive.

The redcoated Swiss foot have seen off Frederick's Garde du Corps, which can be seen fleeing towards the friendly yellow uniforms of the Prinz von Preussen Cuirassiers

Remaining Army Points after Turn Seven:
Prussia 15/30
France: 21/29
TURN EIGHT
The weather remained fair, which is more than could be said for my chances of victory.
In fact I was beaten almost immediately when the Wittmer Foot followed up their melee success by advancing and pouring a devastating volley into the backs of the Garde du Corps. That eliminated the Garde, and brought my Army Points below half of their starting total.

The final scene. It was a truly "French" victory in that the Bavarian contingent of Saxe's army, two squadrons of Hohenzollern Dragoons, can be seen in the foreground in the same position as when the battle started

Next: afterthoughts

Battle of Eckwelt - part four

TURN FOUR
French musketry belied its poor reputation by eliminating the Wickradt Foot and causing the Brandenburg-Schwedt battalion to flee. The French did not have it all their own way, however, as the Navarre Foot also broke,
The cavalry melee was more even this turn with my Posadowski Dragoons and the French Gendarmes wiped out, but that leaves my east-flank cavalry heavily outnumbered.

Saxe encourages the French foot to advance

Remaining Army Points at the end of Turn Four:
Prussia: 24/30
France: 28/29
TURN FIVE
The Cuirassiers du Roi caught my Porzellan Dragoons in the flank and destroyed them. But the superior Prussian musketry, combined with some artillery, came into its own this turn, wiping out the Picardie Foot and the Grenadiers de France.

Chasseurs de Fischer enter the Tannenwald, clearly intent on outflanking my right wing

Remaining Army Points at the end of Turn Five:
Prussia: 21/30
France: 24/29
TURN SIX
On my right my Garde du Corps cuirassiers came under fire from two of the French guns, losing 25 percent effectiveness but passing a subsequent morale test. There really wasn't room to withdraw them, and they could not stay where they were and survive, so I sent them charging at Saxe's now-advancing Wittmer Foot.
The remaining soldiers of the Brandenburg-Schwedt fled the battlefield after failing to rally. This was incompetence on my part as I should have sent the figure of Frederick to intercept them, but somehow in the heat of battle it did not occur to me.
On my left there was excitement as a diminished squadron of the Royal-Cravate Cavalerie, fleeing from my Buddenbrock Curiassiers, threw a one on their movement die, reducing their move to 7.5cm under the Move Variation rule. It seemed as if my cuirassiers must catch them from behind, but Saxe had time to interpose the Languedoc Dragoons. The cuirassiers charged them, but could only inflict one hit. The dragoons replied with two hits, but both were cancelled when the cuirassiers' saving throws turned up a pair of sixes! This meant the dragoons had lost the melee, and they fled.

This will surely end in tears - my Garde du Corps begins what must be a death-or-glory charge

Remaining Army Points at the end of Turn Six:
Prussia: 19/30
France: 24/29
to be continued

Battle of Eckwelt - part three

TURN ONE

Peering through the Tannenwald towards the Franco-Bavarian lines

Saxe won the dice-off (5-1) for choice of moving first or second, and chose to move first.
His command pips allowed him to advance all his foot, but only two of his cavalry squadrons.
I was able to advance three of my left-flank squadrons. but in the centre could only fire two guns. However, one of them scored a hit on the Alsace Foot, who failed their subsequent morale test.

Cavalry sweep forward in front of Eckwelt while in the mid-distance Saxe's Alsace Foot have turned and fled

TURN TWO
Saxe threw just a one on his 10-sided die for his central command, which, with his bonus for being a superior general, translated into two pips. One was used in a failed bid to rally the Alsace Foot, and the other was used to send the figure of Saxe to intercept them ready to increase the odds of rallying next turn.
I was able to advance most of my foot but my guns failed to make an impression on the French infantry.

View from Eckwelt of what promises to be an epic cavalry melee

TURN THREE
Last turn my infantry moved within range of the French guns, and now the first battalion of the Winterfeldt Foot on the right of my line suffered two hits, reducing their effectiveness to 50 percent, but their morale held steady.
Saxe successfully rallied the Alsace Foot.
The cavalry melee turned into a disaster for the Prussian cause. I lost no less than three squadrons. The Franco-Bavarians suffered casualties too, but no squadrons were eliminated.

Looking from the Steilerhügel towards the advancing Prussian infantry

Remaining Army Points* at the end of Turn Three:
Prussia: 27/30
France: 29/29
(*I've been calling these Victory Points but it makes more sense to label them Army Points)
to be continued

Battle of Eckwelt - part two

SO what's my plan (apart from kicking myself for going without light troops)?
Clearly I can't squeeze the whole of my army between the two woods, but the space sure looks right for being filled by my foot in two lines.
Saxe will almost certainly put his guns on the Steilerhügel, while I will spread mine between the foremost infantry battalions.
I don't have much choice about it, but in any event I will put most of my cavalry east of the Eichwald, but leave two squadrons as a right flank/reserve.

Overview of the starting position

As you may be able to see from the above photo, Saxe has placed all his horse on his right flank. His light infantry will presumably head for the Tannenwald while the Swiss Wittmer infantry look as if they will support his guns on the Steilerhügel.

A huge cavalry melee can be expected on the east flank of the battlefield, where Saxe has given himself an eight-six advantage in squadrons.

The centre of the battlefield is where the infantry will inevitably clash

Not much action to be expected on the west flank?

My three commands are much as might be guessed: left flank - six cavalry squadrons; centre - eight foot battalions and three guns; right flank - two cavalry squadrons. Frederick is attached to the Lehwaldt Foot and will not need a separate activation pip unless he moves independently.

King Frederick (mounted) with the Lehwaldt

Saxe's three commands are: right flank - eight cavalry squadrons; centre - six foot battalions; left flank - three guns, one foot battalion and the light infantry. Saxe is attached to the Touraine Foot.

Saxe with the Touraine

One final thing before we get underway: the weather.
For historical refights, I use the weather that existed during the real battle. For Eckwelt, I am using a slightly modified version of Charlie Wesencraft's weather gauge as detailed in his books from the 1970s.
I will explain how it works in a later post, but for this game I will simply report that the weather will begin Fair. Any changes will be noted as I report the battle turn-by-turn.
to be continued

Testing The New Command & Control Rules - The Battle of Eckwelt

MY regular wargames opponent and I will test the latest edition of my rules by each picking a mid-18th century army to use on a battlefield created by my random terrain generator.
I know he will almost certainly want to choose a French army, and probably have it led by his hero, Maurice de Saxe, but he is the guest and so he can select from any of the following:
1. French
2. Franco-Bavarian
3. Austrian
4. Austro-Saxon
5. Prussian
6. Prusso-Saxon
7. Pragmatic
For the purposes of this test, each force shall consist of 20 units drawn from the following army list:
General...1
Foot...6-8*
Light infantry...0-1
Cuirassiers...2-4^#
Dragoons...2-4^
Hussars...0-2
Guns...1-3
*If at least seven battalions are chosen, one may be elite
^The number of cuirassier squadrons must not exceed the number of dragoon squadrons
#If four cuirassier squadrons are chosen, one may be elite
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AS more-or-less expected, my opponent has chosen a Franco-Bavarian army led by Saxe, while I have gone for a Prussian army commanded by Frederick the Great.
The next stage is for us to each write down, but not yet reveal, the composition of our force.
I have gone for, in addition to Frederick: eight foot battalions, four squadrons each of cuirassiers and dragoons, and three guns.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NEXT we used the random terrain generator to select our battlefield. It turned out to have a large forest of firs, a smaller wood of oaks, a small but steep hill and, to the south-east, a town.

The battlefield looking form the south-west

We agreed the battle would be taking place east of the Rhine at an unspecified date, thus somewhat getting around the anachronistic point that France and Prussia were allies in the War of the Austrian Succession and only became enemies in the Seven Years War when Saxe was long dead.
We named the forest Tannenwald, the oak wood Eichwald, the hill Steilerhügel and the town Eckwelt.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WE now revealed our chosen armies.
Mine was:
Frederick the Great (rated superior)
Wickradt-Winterfeldt Grenadiers (rated elite)
Winterfeldt Foot x2
Kanitz Foot
Brandenburg-Schwedt Foot
Lehwaldt Foot
Wickradt Foot
Grevenitz Foot
Garde du Corps (rated elite)
Brandenburg-Schwedt Cuirassiers
Preussen Cuirassiers
Buddenbrock Cuirassiers
Porzellan Dragoons
Württemberg Dragoons
Bayreuth Dragoons
Normann Dragoons
9pdr Gun x3
Victory Points: 30 (a general counts as 3pts, a foot battalion 2pts and each other unit 1pt; an army loses if its number of victory points falls below half the starting number)
My opponent, along with Saxe as his general, chose seven foot battalions, one unit of light infantry, four squadrons each of cuirassiers and dragoons, and three guns:
Maurice de Saxe (rated superior)
Grenadiers de France (rated elite)
Picardie Foot
Navarre Foot
Touraine Foot
Poitou Foot
Alsace Foot
Wittmer Foot
Chasseurs de Fischer (light infantry)
Gendarmes de la Garde (rated elite)
Royal-Cravate Cavalerie
Colonel-Général Cavalerie
Cuirassiers du Roi
Languedoc Dragoons
Hohenzollern Dragoons x2
Dragoons du Roi
8pdr Gun x3
Victory Points: 29 (a general counts as 3pts, a foot battalion 2pts and each other unit 1pt; an army loses if its number of victory points falls below half the starting number)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EACH general is rated superior, which means he adds one to the command die of whichever section of the army he is with.
In addition, Prussian foot will add one to every musketry throw when in firing order.
Because this will give me quite an advantage, I am balancing it, at least to some extent, by giving my opponent, whom I will from now on refer to as Saxe, the choice of which long edge of the table to deploy on. This might not matter with some battles, but here it is likely to make a sizeable difference.
Literally quicker than you could say Jack Robinson, Saxe chose the side with the hill.
The Tannenwald is passable by light infantry at half-speed and other foot, who cannot be in firing order, at quarter-speed. The Eichwald is passable to light infantry at normal speed, other foot, who cannot be in firing order, at half-speed and horse at quarter-speed. The Steilerhügel reduces all movement by half.
Next: we each draw a sketch map of our initial dispositions.
To be continued

Slingshot

THE May/June issue of the Society of Ancients' magazine Slingshot arrived yesterday afternoon and, as usual, I have read it in less than 24 hours.

Definitely better late than never

That is not a result of there being few articles of interest, but rather due to most of the articles being exactly what I love to read.
Pride of place in my view goes to Richard Taylor's piece on the meaning of a single word from Plutarch. The article takes up more than five (unillustrated) pages, but is in no sense dry and kept me enthralled to the end.
Now it often happens that an article in Slingshot giving a new interpretation of ancient history meets with a thorough rebuttal in the very next issue, but, for the moment at least, I am convinced by Taylor's claim that "belosphendonai" refers to slung stones rather than "fiery bolts."

All Booked Up

BOB Cordery's new book is the latest addition to my wargaming library.

The cover is simple but effective

If it's anything like his first Portable Wargame book, I am in for a treat.