Airfix Battles

SOME four years ago I took out a magazine subscription - to Miniature Wargames, I believe - mainly because the enticement to subscribe was a free boxed set of Airfix Battles: The Introductory Wargame.

Nice box ... interesting contents

The game is card-driven, and comes with terrain maps and counters for troops and vehicles.
Although it is described as an introductory wargame, the rules are more complex than many eurogames, while being a lot simpler than the old classics from SPI and Avalon Hill.

Inside the box ... after the contents have been sorted

I never played Airfix Battles as I could not get enthusiastic about playing a tactical wargame with counters (having said that, one of the SPI/Avalon Hill games I own is Sniper!, which is not a strategic game by any stretch of the imagination).
My extensive collection of Airfix 1/72nd soldiers is long gone, either given away or disposed of in a clear-out, and I never got round to buying replacements to be used in fighting Airfix Battles.
But it has occurred to me I could just as easily use larger figures, specifically Army Men I bought three years ago in Jersey (https://timspanton.blogspot.com/2017/04/50mm-and-all-that.html) and used for a D-Day scenario (https://timspanton.blogspot.com/2017/04/d-day-scenario-for-plastic-army-men.html).
The plan is to try out the first Airfix Battles scenario against my regular wargames opponent - we both have plenty of spare time in current circumstances.
By coincidence, scenario one is located in Normandy and dated June 6 1944, ie D-Day.

Scenario one terrain map

To the map for scenario one you add four square cover counters representing "woods or buildings that block line of sight," and four rectangular rough-terrain counters representing "mud, craters and other obstacles to movement."

Map with cover and rough-terrain counters

It may just be possible to see that the map consists of 35 squares marked out in five rows of seven. This is easy to turn into a grid on one of my wargames tables.

Gridded for Airfix Battles

Having the right range of suitable terrain was a little more problematic, but I managed what I reckon is a decent-enough job.

The completed battlefield

The dirt track is made from tissue paper, three houses and a wood replace the square cover counters, and the four rough-terrain rectangles are replaced by various other items of terrain.
In this scenario each player receives four unit cards representing a captain, a four-man team of veterans, and two 10-man squads each armed with rifles/light machineguns and two anti-tank guns (bazookas for the Americans; panzerfausts for the Germans).

The cards detail each unit's combat capabilities

In the game, infantry are represented by round counters, but I have replaced these with Army Men.

The Americans ... the captain with his veterans are in the foreground, with the two 10-man squads behind

The Germans ... apparently still wearing the uniforms of Rommel's Afrikakorps

Note it does not matter, apart from aesthetically, what weapons the figures have. As the rules sate: "Don't worry if your figures don't have exactly the right weapons, as it's only the number of figures that count. All other information (weapon stats and unit abilities) comes from the unit cards."

Slingshot May/June 2020

ISSUE 330 of the journal of the Society of Ancients has a good mix of articles, my favourites being Nicholas Spratt's account of a war between the Han Chinese and Xiongnu nomads, David Kay on wargaming mechanisms, and Chris Hahn on the Battle of Bosworth.

Slingshot 330 has a standard cover ... but above-standard contents

I was somewhat less impressed by an attempt to defend Herodotus's estimate of Xerxes' Persian army at having more than five million men ...

The Battle Of Colonieblanche (part five)

TURN 10
My gun scored a hit, but the French infantry unit was able to withdraw rather than lose a strength point. I scored two hits with rifle fire, killing a Garibaldi Redshirt and forcing the French to retreat from Colonieblanche (accepting a strength-point loss would have taken French losses to 15, meaning de Saxe would have lost the battle). I chose to fight the melee around the gun first, but no hits were scored. In the cavalry melee, it was the turn of my chevauleger to be forced back.
The French reoccupied Colonieblanche, and the battle ended in a German defeat when the last member of the 3rd Garde-Regiment zu Fuss was killed, bringing German losses to 15 strength points - more than half their starting total.

The end ... a final view of the battlefield

AFTERTHOUGHTS
One thing we could certainly agree on was that it had been an exciting battle, with the result in doubt to the very last turn. Indeed, had my uhlan unit inflicted a kill on the French artillery in my half of turn 15, it would have been a German victory rather than a French one.
As it was, the French victory was by the narrowest possible margin, and in terms of units eliminated, as opposed to strength points lost, I was ahead at the end. But however narrow a victory, it was a French one, and those were rare in the Franco-Prussian War.
How can the French victory be explained  - are the rules to blame, was it my poor generalship or was it the choice of scenario?
I like to think, and my opponent agreed, that the rules seemed fine. Most of the credit for this goes to Portable Wargame designer Bob Cordery, but we felt my adaptations to give more of a Franco-Prussian feel also worked well without swamping the core rules.
Poor generalship? Always a possibility, of course! I thought I was a little unlucky with dice throws for my gun, causing its siting on Petit Haut Rond to take longer than it should. But perhaps it was a mistake wanting to site the gun there as it can reach targets by firing from the baseline if necessary. Some credit should certainly go to de Saxe. By concentrating his forces on the west flank of the battlefield, most of them were masked from my army by La Grand Colline and the town of Colonieblanche. Meanwhile, his centrally-placed gun had an uninterrupted view of a large proportion of my army.
The scenario was certainly French-friendly. A major reason for the successes of the Germans on the battlefields of the Franco-Prussian War was the pre-battle staff-work of the Prussian high command. Their superior organisational skills meant the Germans often had more units on the battlefield, rather than equal numbers as in the Battle of Colonieblanche.
In any event, my opponent and I are agreed we shall use The Portable Wargame as the basis for our Project Kaiser 150th anniversary refight of the Franco-Prussian War.
The only aspect we felt needed further tinkering is the rules for melees, which we felt dragged on too long. In future a 4 rather than a 5 will be needed to score a hit, which brings melees into line with my amendments for rifle and artillery fire. I hope my amendments, making the rules a Franco-Prussian War Portable Wargame, may find an honourable place among the increasing numbers of Portable Wargame adaptations.

The Battle Of Colonieblanche (part four)

TURN SEVEN
My gun scored another hit that could not be negated by withdrawing. My uhlan unit charged the French near Villejaune in the flank, meaning there would be two melees to resolve this half-turn. Rifle fire was unsuccessful. The cavalry melee saw one of the Chevaulegers fall. In the melee outside Villejaune, both sides rolled a 6. The uhlan unit received +1 for attacking in flank, -1 for being cavalry with fewer than two strength points and +1 for being cavalry fighting infantry, meaning a final score of 7 - a hit. The French received -1 for being attacked in the flank, -1 for being infantry with fewer than three strength points and -1 for being infantry fighting cavalry, meaning a final score of 3. The hit cost the French a strength point.
The French gun scored a hit on the 3rd Garde-Regiment zu Fuss, but I took the option of having them fall back rather than lose another precious strength point. De Saxe was unable to activate Garibaldi's Redshirts to face a Prussian unit coming from around La Grande Colline, but a unit of regular infantry alongside them dropped back to face the danger. The French unit occupying the town turned and fired at the 3rd Garde-Regiment zu Fuss, who had to lose a strength point. The cavalry melee was indecisive, while in the melee near Villejaune both sides again rolled a 6. This time there were no modifiers for attacking or being attacked in flank - I only count that for the first turn of a melee - so the uhlan unit ended with a score of 6, meaning a hit, but the infantry ended with 4. The hit suffered by the French could not be negated, and so the unit was eliminated.
Standings: the French have lost eight strength points and two units; the Germans have lost 12 strength points but no units.

Looking desperate ... Germans on the brink of defeat

TURN EIGHT
My gun again downed a French infantryman. My uhlan unit about-turned and charge the flank of the French gun, meaning there would again be two melees to resolve. Garibaldi's Redshirts suffered the only casualty to German rifle fire. There was another twist in the long-running cavalry melee as this time a French dragoon had to be removed. In the other melee, the artillerymen rolled a 5 to my 2. The 5 was modified by -1 (attacked in flank), +1 (more than three strength points) and -2 (artillery fighting cavalry), giving a final score of 3, so no hit. The 2 was modified by +1 (attacking in flank), -1 (fewer than two strength points) and +2 (fighting artillery), giving a final score of 4, so also no hit.
The French gun obviously could not fire as it is still in a melee, but de Saxe's infantry made up for this by scoring three rifle hits, although I was only forced to lose one strength point, taking the option to retreat in the other two cases. No hits were scored in the ongoing cavalry melee. We both rolled 4s in the other melee. His 4 was reduced by modifiers to 3, while mine was increased to 5, scoring a hit, which removed an artilleryman.
Standings: the French have lost 12 strength points and two units; the Germans have lost 13 strength points but no units.

Gunning for it ... the battle for the French gun

TURN NINE
The battle has suddenly become unexpectedly close!
My gun failed to score a hit, and I only achieved one hit with rifle fire, which de Saxe was able to negate into a one-square withdrawal. My chevauleger scored a hit on his dragoon, but the latter was able to withdraw. I naturally followed up to keep the melee going - his cavalryman now has its back to the edge of the battlefield. My uhlan killed a second French artilleryman.
In de Saxe's turn, French infantry scored two hits, only one of which I could negate by withdrawing. The cavalry melee was inconclusive. I scored another hit in the melee around the French gun. De Saxe chose for the artillerymen to abandon their gun, and my uhlan followed up to keep the melee going.
Standings: the French have lost 13 strength points and two units; the Germans have lost 14 strength points but no units.

Carry on ... the melee by the gun continues

The Battle Of Colonieblanche (part three)

TURN FOUR
My gun at last mounted Petit Haut Rond. There was more good news for the Prussian cause when my 'reserve' infantry advanced and fired at the 2nd Hussars, scoring a hit that claimed a strength point. One of the French defenders in Villejaune was also felled.
The French gun scored a hit on the Prussian infantry directly in front of it. I had the choice of losing a strength point or falling back a square, choosing the latter. The 2nd Hussars charged the infantry that had just fired at them. The cavalry were heavily outnumbered, but the melee was inconclusive. No less than four units of French infantry opened fire on the Prussian infantry that had been forced back by artillery fire. The unit lost two strength points and had to retreat a further square. The infantry in Villejaune, perhaps rattled by having  lost a strength point this turn, missed when they fired at my uhlans.

General view ... the melee is in the near-foreground beside La Grande Colline 

Prussian attack ... on Villejaune

TURN FIVE
My gun fired from the top of Petit Haut Rond, but missed. I cannot help but think poor generalship must be partly to blame for that fact that it has taken me this long to get off even one shot with the longest-ranged weapon on the battlefield. The chevaulegers charged towards the French dragoons, while the nearby melee went in my favour with the last hussar downed. The French in Villejaune lost one strength point and retreated from the town rather than lose a second.
The French gun again scored a hit on my infantry, and I again chose to fall back a square. The dragoons countercharged my chevaulegers, but neither unit scored a hit. French rifle fire from the vicinity of Colonieblanche reduced the nearest Prussian unit by two strength points. The infantry that fell back from Villejaune regained their composure enough to down an uhlan.
Standings: the French have lost four strength points and one unit; the Germans have lost seven strength points but no units.

View from behind ... the massed French units around Colonieblanche

TURN SIX
My gun downed one of the French infantrymen around Colonieblanche. My uhlan unit failed to activate and so missed a golden opportunity to charge the Villejaune infantry in the flank. My two infantry divisions that had been alongside the uhlans turned left to attack Colonieblanche. None of my rifle fire was successful, but in the cavalry melee my chevaulegers scored an unanswered hit on the dragoons, who chose to fall back a square. I exercised my option of following up, meaning there would be another round of fighting in de Saxe's half-turn.

Fighting ... is centring on Colonieblanche

The French gun knocked a strength point off the 3rd Garde-Regiment zu Fuss. De Saxe could have tried putting his left-flank infantry division into the relative safety of Villejaune, but chose instead for them to open fire on the uhlan unit, but they missed. One unit at Colonieblanche turned and fired at the 3rd Garde-Regiment zu Fuss, claiming another strength point, and I lost another strength point from my nearest unit to the town. The swirling cavalry melee continued, but this time it was my chevaulegers who suffered a hit, and I chose to withdraw them. The dragoons followed up, ensuring yet another round of hand-to-hand, or sabre-to-sabre, fighting.
Standings: the French have lost five strength points and one unit; the Germans have lost 10 strength points but no units.

Mounting casualties ... have left the Prussian centre looking rather hollow

The Battle Of Colonieblanche (part two)

TURN ONE
I ordered a general advance, only to find the first two infantry units I tested failed to activate. The gun also refused to budge. Presumably something had gone wrong with the fabled Prussian staff-work. I advanced the rest of the army, though, as I saw no reason to hold them back.
De Saxe also ordered a general advance. He also had mixed success, but on the west flank both his cavalry units charged forward, and the Garibaldi Redshirts got within extreme range of my Bavarian horse thanks to being armed with the Chassepot rifle. This was rather careless of me as I had no need to advance the chevaulegers so far, since they are on their own and cannot hope to take on the entire right-wing of the French army. The Redshirts rolled a 3 - they got +1 for being at full strength, but -1 for having moved, so narrowly missed (a 4 being required to score a hit).

End of turn one ... the French have occupied Villejaune and seem about to enter Colonieblanche

Close-up on the west flank ... the Bavarian chevaulegers are seriously outnumbered

TURN TWO
I pulled the chevaulegers back to shelter behind La Grande Colline, while the rest of the army, with the exception of one out-of-touch infantry division, lined up behind Petit Haut Rond.
The French continued their fierce forward movement in the west, and occupied Colonieblanche. Perhaps de Saxe's plan is to hold the towns while swinging a right hook against my left flank in general and the Bavarians in particular. There was a hiccup in his progress, however, when the French gun was ordered to unlimber but remained stationary for a second turn.

A right hook ... looks very likely

TURN THREE
All my troops activated this turn, except for the gun, whose crew failed to climb Petit Haut Rond. The chevaulegers lined up alongside the one infantry division which, perhaps fortuitously, had previously refused to budge (if I were not writing the battle up turn-by-turn, I might have been able to claim this as a strategic masterstroke).

What the French will see ... if they charge round La Grande Colline

On the German centre-right, everyone advanced (apart from the gun), with the extreme left and extreme right infantry divisions getting in range of French infantry. Both my units had a +1 modifier for being at full strength, and -1 for having moved. The right-hand firers had a further -1 modifier for their target being in cover. I rolled a 3 for the left-hand unit, and a 4 for the right-hand unit, meaning both narrowly failed to score a hit.

German advance ... against both towns

De Saxe successfully unlimbered his gun - shown by turning its barrel to point towards the enemy. His cavalry continued forward and turned to face what could be called the German left-flank reserve, but the Garibaldi Redshirts failed to activate.

General view ... after French movement

French rifle fire on the main body of the German army scored two hits on the left-hand division and one on the right-hand division. I negated one of the left-hand hits by retreating the unit instead, but had no such choice with the other hit, and so the unit lost a strength point (ie a figure was removed). There was no choice with the right-hand unit - it had to lose a strength point.

The Battle Of Colonieblanche

HERE is the set-up for our first trial of my Franco-Prussian War variant of the Portable Wargame, using a 14x11 5in grid.
The hills remain in position from where I placed them for yesterday's post, and I have added two towns and a wood.
We diced for choice of long table-edge. I won and chose south, which is near the hill that covers three squares, which we named La Grande Colline, and near to the lone hill, Petit Haut Rond.
The town nearer the camera is Colonieblanche and the town taking up two squares in the distance is Villejaune, which is next to Boisvert wood.
I knew my Francophile opponent would want to command the French forces - indeed he said that, for the purposes of the battle, he was sinking his persona into that of Richard de Saxe, a previously unheard of descendant of  Maurice de Saxe, my opponent's great hero.
He - Richard de Saxe, that is, from now on to be referred to as de Saxe - has a republican French army consisting of four units of regular infantry, Garribaldi's Redshirts, the 2nd Hussars, a unit of dragoons and a gun.
Because it is a republican rather than imperial French army, the gun has a range of nine squares and does not have the -1 modifier for firing that is suffered by imperial French artillery. Garribaldi's Redshirts activate on a throw of 2 rather than the 3 of other French units.
My army consists of four units of regular infantry, the 3rd Garde-Regiment zu Fuss, a unit of Prussian uhlans, a unit of Bavarian chevaulegers and a gun.
The guard infantry do not get an extra strength point, but their superior standing is reflected in not needing a die throw to activate.
Each army has 28 strength points and eight units, and so will lose if strength points fall below 14 or units below four..
Each general was allowed to deploy his forces anywhere in the two rows of squares nearest his baseline - their exact positioning being written on a piece of paper prior to deployment.
The result was as can be seen in the photo below, with my Germans nearest the camera.

Ready for the off ... initial deployments

I chose a fairly conventional lime-up, my plan being a general advance by the infantry, with Petit Haut Rond to be occupied by the gun
The infantry's left flank will be covered by La Grande Colline and the chevaulegers, while the  uhlans will guard the right flank.
De Saxe went for an asymmetrical line-up, with all his cavalry on his right flank together with all the rest of the army, apart from a unit of infantry posted behind Villejaune, presumably with orders to occupy the town.

The French line-up ... dragoons nearest the camera

Bird's eye view ... of the German army and the hills

The only thing left to do before battle commenced was to dice for first move, which I won 3-2 after a 6-6 tie.
As usual, I will be writing the battle up turn by turn.

Hills!?

WE are nearly ready to fight a test battle for Project Kaiser - my 54mm toy-soldier refight of the Franco-Prussian War.
Unfortunately the Covid-19 crisis has made it next-to-impossible for me to source the terrain I was hoping to get.
But my daily exercising out-doors has been taking me down Bethnal Green Road in the East End, which has more shops open than many other parts of London thanks to having lots of family-run 'essential' businesses.
One I popped into had a pack of plastic bowls with a diameter of about 5in - not much use for most people, I would have thought, but just the right size for my planned 5in gridded Project Kaiser playing surface.

The pack

An individual bowl

The pack was £1.99, I think - I cannot recall exactly, but it was cheap enough that no harm would be done if the bowls proved unsuitable for what I had in mind.

Add a lick of green paint and I reckon they make suitable hills for my toy soldiers to fight over.

Four hills on a 14x11 5in grid

Perhaps not ideal - but good enough for me.

The Portable Franco-Prussian Wargame

AFTER much thought, I have decided to base my Project Kaiser rules around Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame series of books.
In particular I am adapting the late-19th century rules from his original publication, The Portable Wargame (Eglinton Books 2017).

The Portable Wargame … a modern classic

Because the figures for my 150th anniversary refight of the Franco-Prussian War are 54mm toy soldiers, I will be using a 5in square grid.
By putting my two wargame tables together, I can create a grid of 14x11 squares.
You will need Cordery's book to understand the brief summary of my rules that follows.
I have changed a few of his concepts - sometimes to fit in with how I like a wargame to work, sometimes adapting ideas from Neil Thomas's book Wargaming Nineteenth Century Europe, and sometimes to give the rules a more-distinct flavour of the Franco-Prussian War.
The summary below mainly covers the changes I have made to Cordery's core rules, and below that I give my reasons.

UNITS
Type                                         Strength Points  Move  Weapon Range
French Infantry                                    4                2                  4
German Infantry                                  4                2                  3
Cavalry                                                2                3                  -
French Imperial Artillery                      4                2                  6
French Republican Artillery                 4                2                  9
Prussian Artillery                                 4                2                 12
There is no separate commander figure as the huge numbers of men involved in the battles would make such a figure disproportionate.
VICTORY (replaces Exhaustion Point)
An army has lost once it loses more than half of its total of starting strength points OR more than half of its starting units.
TURN SEQUENCE
Turns are alternate (aka IGOUGO). Defender goes second. If neither side is obviously on the defensive, dice for who goes first in turn one and continue with alternate half-turns.
1. Artillery fire.
2. Move activated units. To be active, a unit needs to roll a minimum die score.
Prussians and Garibaldi Redshirts: 2.
Others, including non-Prussian Germans: 3.
Elite: +1. Poor: -1.
3. Rifle fire (available to inactive as well as active troops).
4. Resolve melees.
ARTILLERY FIRE
Line-of-sight firing only.
Roll a die, needing a 4 to score a hit.
Prussian: +1
French Imperial: -1
Target in cover: -1
Firers have more than 3 strength points: +1
Firers have fewer than 3 strength points: -1
MOVEMENT
No deduction for firing (or for planning to fire).
RIFLE FIRE
Roll a die, needing a 4 to score a hit.
Firers moved this turn: -1
Target in cover: -1
Firers have more than 3 strength points: +1
Firers have fewer than 3 strength points: -1
MELEEING
A melee occurs when a unit tries to enter a square occupied by an enemy unit.
Both units roll a die, needing a 5 to score a hit (if, with modifiers, the score is 8 or more, then two hits are inflicted).
Attacking in flank or rear: +1
Being attacked in flank or rear: -1
Enemy uphill: -1
Enemy in cover: -1
Unit is infantry or artillery with more than 3 strength points: +1
Unit is infantry or artillery with fewer than 3 strength points: -1
Unit is cavalry with fewer than 2 strength points: -1
Unit is cavalry fighting infantry: +1
Unit is infantry fighting cavalry: -1
Unit is cavalry fighting artillery: +2
Unit is artillery fighting cavalry: -2
Unit is infantry fighting artillery: +1
Unit is artillery fighting infantry: -1
A unit that wants to break off from a melee (as opposed to withdrawing as the result of a hit) must move in a straight line directly away and end its turn with its backs to the enemy.
ALL OTHER RULES
All as in The Portable Wargame, unless a scenario requires a rule to be modified.

THE THINKING BEHIND THE CHANGES
UNITS
Cordery uses strength points of four for infantry, three for cavalry and two for artillery. I have debuffed cavalry and upgraded artillery to make them in line with my reading of the Franco-Prussian War.
Weapon ranges are largely based on Thomas's figures.
I have removed the ability of cavalry to fight dismounted with rifles and/or carbines as that basically did not happen in the Franco-Prussian War, at least not at a division or brigade level.
TURN SEQUENCE
Prussian staff work was ahead of its time, which is why Prussian units are more likely than most other units to activate. Garibaldi's Redshirts showed similar abilities.
ARTILLERY FIRE
Cordery's artillery needs a 5 to score a hit, but guns using line-of-sight get a +2 modifier, meaning they only need a 3. I am only using line-of-sight because howitzers were largely anonymous in battles involving many tens of thousands of troops, so it would make sense if my artillery only needed to roll a 3. I am making it 4 because I have also added modifiers for a unit's strength points, so an artillery unit with four strength points gets +1, which means it only needs to roll a 3 to score a hit. I have introduced modifiers for the number of strength points because it seems strange that a unit at full strength can fight as effectively as a unit with only one strength point remaining.
The modifiers for Prussian and French imperial guns represent the quality of the guns and the respective armies' use of guns.
RIFLE FIRE
Cordery's units need a 5 to score a hit. But units that have not moved get a +1 modifier, meaning they only need to roll a 4. I prefer to to say units need a 4 (the same as for artillery) to score a hit, but with a -1 modifier for having moved.
MELEEING
Cordery has units meleeing when they are in adjacent squares. But at the scale of my battles, I think combat in adjacent squares should be determined by firing, with melees taking place when a unit tries to enter a square occupied by enemy troops.

History Today April 2020

HAVE you any idea why there are 360 degrees in a circle, rather than, say, 100 or some other round number?
Issue 4 of volume 70 of History Today has the answer, along with other interesting articles on the Roman Inquisition, the foundation of Liberia and Charles I's early fractured realm.
The cover story is about a female Soviet WW2 sniper with 309 claimed kills - a claim that is not seriously looked at.

Femme fatale .. Soviet sniper

Instead we learn about Lyudmila Pavlichenko's propaganda tour of the West, particularly how the media reacted to her - part of a tendency for the magazine to prioritise social history.
Still, all in all I found this edition of History Today to be a compelling if light read.

French Line-Up

HERE is the latest line-up of the French army for my 54mm toy-soldier Project Kaiser refight of the Franco-Prussian War.

French ... 32 infantry, six cavalry and nine artillerymen with two guns

In the front row are two guns - one with a four-man crew, the other with five men - either side of the Foreign Legion.
The second row has five units of line infantry.
In the rear (left to right) are two units of dragoons, the 2nd Hussars, the 3rd Zouaves and Garibaldi's Redshirts.

German Line-Up

HERE is the latest line-up of the German army for my 54mm toy-soldier Project Kaiser refight of the Franco-Prussian War.

Germans ... 32 infantry, 10 cavalry and 12 artillerymen with two guns

In the front row are two six-man gun crews either side of the 3rd Garde-Regiment zu Fuss.
The second row has seven units of Prussian line infantry.
In the rear (left to right) are two units of Bavarian Chevaulegers followed by one each of Prussian Uhlans, Bavarian Lancers and Brunswickian Hussars.

Having A Blast

I HAVE finished two heavy guns - one in Prussian colours, one in French - for my 54mm toy-soldier Project Kaiser refight of the Franco-Prussian War.

Prussian on the left - French on the right

Four artillerymen (two gunners and two guards) with the French gun

Another four-man crew - this time with the Prussian gun

Beowulf

HAVE finished reading Beowulf: A Translation And Commentary by JRR Tolkien.
The book, which was edited by Tolkien's son Christopher, was published by HarperCollins in 2016.
It is really three books in one: JRR's prose translation of the Old English poem, his commentaries on the difficulties and controversies surrounding such a translation, and his rendering of the main part of the story into modern English as Sellic Spell.

Tolkien's Beowulf … three books in one

Beowulf is written in Old English but contains no characters who are English - perhaps it would be better to say none who are Anglo-Saxon.
Instead the a story is set in Scandinavia, telling a mythical duel between Good and Evil against the factual background of the sixth century.
I found the first part of the book heavy going. Although JRR did not try to compose his own poetic version of the tale, he kept many poetic turns of phrase in what reads to me as cod Ye Olde Englishe.
Much more interesting is the second part, where Christopher publishes, with explanatory material where necessary, JRR's detailed notes on problems thrown up by translating a language no longer spoken or fully understood.
There are many insights into warrior mores that the unknown author of the poem evidently believed were commonplace among his likely audiences.
And finally there is Sellic Spell, a freehand retelling of much of the story in a fluent style that I read at one sitting. If only JRR had felt confident enough to perform this service for the whole poem ...

Well Pleased

ONE of the few non-supermarket chains still open is Poundland.
I popped into the firm's East End branch in Roman Road earlier this week, on the off-chance of finding something useful.
The toy section was disappointing, from my somewhat-niche perspective, but in the gardening section there was an eclectic range of "fairy furniture."
I nearly walked out with more than one item, but in the end just bought a well, which I think could make a picturesque addition to a 54mm village or town.

Well ... worth £1

 

A touch  ... of black paint to finish 

Zouave officer … alongside the well, which can be seen to be no mean size

Unusual War Memorial

MANY WW1 memorials follow a standard pattern, but not the one I came across yesterday in Roman Road, East London.

This memorial is on the outside of St Barnabas's Church, which was originally a Baptist chapel, before becoming Church of England in 1870, which makes this year its 150th Anglican anniversary.
Despite the name of the church, the plaque depicts St George and a vanquished dragon, standing on a scroll engraved: TRIBUTE.
Underneath is: TO THE MEN OF THIS PARISH WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR FREEDOM 1914-1919.

Project Kaiser Update

HOSTILITIES in the Franco-Prussian War began in August 1870, so the 150th anniversary, and thus the start of my Project Kaiser refight using 54mm toy soldiers, is some way off.
I have painted most of the figures I will need, but have not made a start on devising the rules.
Accordingly I spent time yesterday refreshing my memory of how Neil Thomas tackles the subject in Wargaming Nineteenth Century Europe 1815-1878 (Pen & Sword 2012).

Wargaming ... 63 years on one continent

The following table shows the differences in maximum firing ranges and effectiveness of most of the troops:
Unit                                         Range  Dice per Base
French Imperial Artillery         32cm    2 normally but 5 at 0-12cm
French Republican Artillery    48cm    3
French Rifles                          24cm    2
Prussian Artillery                     60cm    4
Prussian Rifles                        16cm    2
So Prussian artillery outranges French artillery and usually has more hitting power; French rifles outrange Prussian rifles but have identical hitting power.
There is an optional rule, but in my view it would not be a very good simulation of the Franco-Prussian War without it, covering command & control: French imperial leadership is rated poor, French republican leadership is rated average, and Prussian leadership is rated good.
What this boils down to is that imperial armies will have an average of three units "in command," republican armies five and Prussian armies seven.
An army typically consists of 10 units. Those "out of command" can only move half their normal distance, and usually only roll half their normal number of dice for firing (but fractions are rounded up).

From The Holy Mountain

IF you love travel as well as history, you will probably like a book I have just finished, From The Holy Mountain by William Dalrymple (Harper Press 2011)

Holy … A Journey In The Shadow Of Byzantium

Dalrymple journeyed extensively through the former Asian holdings of the Eastern Roman Empire, now more popularly known as Byzantium.
"A rich stew of history and travel narrative spiced with anecdote, opinion and bon mots," was a good summing up by Sara Wheeler in The Independent.
I bought it on a recent trip to Doncaster because I very much enjoyed Dalrymple's first travel-history book, In Xanadu: A Quest.
From The Holy Mountain contrasts Dalrymple's modern experiences with the region's life in the later years of the East Roman Empire, with a concentration on religious sites.
Be warned that the book is not, in my view, as compelling a read as In Xanadu, and does not live up to the numerous rave reviews it received - but then it would be hard to find any book that quite deserved as much praise as was given to From The Holy Mountain.

Royal Fusiliers War Memorial

THE Royal Fusiliers war memorial in Holborn, central London, is a reminder of times when the British army was considerably larger than today.

Memorial … in High Holborn on the edge of the City of London

Today's army has 49 infantry battalions, while the memorial to the Royal Fusiliers lists that single regiment's 46 battalions, which included battalions specialising in recruiting bankers, Jews and stockbrokers, as listed on a bronze plaque shown in the photo above.
Unusually for a memorial erected as late as 1922, it lists the Great War as running from 1914-19. This is almost certainly because two of the 46 listed battalions were raised, after WWI ended, for fighting Bolsheviks in north Russia in 1919.

Close-up … of the west side of the memorial

Almost 22,000 Royal Fusiliers were killed in WW1, and the deaths of members of the regiment in WW2 and subsequent conflicts are commemorated by additional inscriptions.

Standing tall … the 8ft 6in statue is made of bronze, standing on a 16ft 6in pedestal of Portland stone

Game Of Kings update

AS promised, I am updating my Game Of Kings rules, mainly to debuff artillery and simplify infantry movement/firing (changes below are in bold).

INTRODUCTION

The rules are, to a large extent, old school in their deliberate simplicity. I want victory to go to the player with a better understanding of generalship rather than a better understanding of the rules.
They are adapted, heavily at times, from Neil Thomas's inspiring books, specifically Wargaming: An Introduction and Napoleonic Wargaming.
To fully comprehend the thinking behind the rules, you will need to read his books; most of my explanations here will be about those instances where I have drastically changed his concepts.

Game Of Kings is designed to put you in the position of a mid-18th century European general.
He would not have known exactly how many men he had under his command. Instead, he would have known his army consisted of so many battalions of foot, squadrons of horse and guns of artillery.
European armies of this period tended to resemble each other in terms of arms, formations and tactics, eg battalions moved in columns but fought in lines, and squadrons, including so-called dragoons, charged home rather than engaging in caracoling firefights.
Unit strengths varied between armies, but they varied much more within an army. Sickness, desertion and unreplaced casualties meant the fact that nation X's squadrons had a paper strength of 15 troopers more than nation Y's squadrons was of little relevance to what turned up on the battlefield.
That is why battalions, squadrons and guns in Game Of Kings are represented by the same number of figures in each army. However, that does not mean their fighting abilities will be the same.
One of the main features of Neil Thomas's rules is that his armies have a set number of units. I think this can work well with ancient armies, where the reported numbers for the contending sides are often pretty fanciful and hard to reconstruct with any confidence.
This is much less so with the 18th century, especially when most battles have multiple contemporary accounts rather than a single author writing possibly centuries after the event.
So in Game Of Kings, when refighting a historic battle, the number of units in each army will reflect the original strengths.
There will certainly not be a 1:1 ratio in terms of battalions, squadrons and guns, but there will typically be many more units than in Neil Thomas's armies.
This required me to speed up combat mechanisms in order to prevent battles dragging on to the point where players might start looking at their watches.
Another difference between Game Of Kings and the books is that I have introduced simple command & control and morale rules.
Even so, the rules, stripped of their explanations, fit comfortably on one side of a sheet of A4 paper.

ORGANISATION
An army consists of a general on a base 20x20mm, and units of foot, horse and guns on bases 40x20mm.
A foot battalion has two bases, normally in a line, each containing eight musketmen arranged in two ranks, and an 'officer' - it could be a drummer - to indicate the unit's state of effectiveness.
The officer is placed centrally behind the bases when the unit is at 100 percent effectiveness. After it suffers a "hit," which reduces the unit's effectiveness to 75 percent, the officer is moved to behind the righthand base.
After a further hit, reducing effectiveness to 50 percent, one of the bases is removed and the officer is placed centrally behind the remaining one. A third hit, reducing effectiveness to 25 percent, sees the officer removed, and a fourth hit means the remaining base is removed.
Note that this does not mean the unit has been wiped out, nor does losing 25 percent effectiveness mean the unit has suffered 25 percent casualties. Instead it represents a loss of effectiveness, which may be a combination of casualties, faltering spirit and disintegration.
Light infantry is organised similarly, except each base has three figures.

George II overlooks four battalions of British and Hanoverian infantry (left to right): von Klinkowström at 100% effectiveness, Royal Foot at 75%,  The Buffs at 50% and 5th Marines at 25%

Cavalry can be heavy, medium or light, but each squadron consists of two bases, each with three troopers, and an 'officer'.
Heavy and medium horse can be distinguished by their equipment, eg a heavy cavalryman often wears a cuirass, while light horse should be placed on their base in ragged formation.
Cavalry bases are positioned one behind the other. Neil Thomas, who uses a similar system, explains this is to reflect the way cavalry kept a reserve when going into combat (and remember that a tabletop squadron represents several real-life ones). The exception is that light cavalry in a screening role may operate with bases in a line.

Prussian horse parade past an isolated farmhouse, led by Brandenburg-Schwedt Cuirassiers at 100% effectiveness, followed by Posadowski Dragoons at 75%, Prinz von Preussen Cuirassiers at 50% and Bayreuth Dragoons at 25%

A gun and four gunners are arranged lengthways on a single 40x20mm base. Loss of effectiveness can be shown with a marker, eg a miniature boulder.

 

COMMAND & CONTROL
I have tried everything, from going without command and control altogether (Neil Thomas's preference), to Bob Cordery's card-based system from The Portable Wargame, which is essentially a stripped-down version of Brent Oman's Piquet set-up.
But in the end I found that what works best is Phil Barker and the Wargames Research Group's pips, or action points as I like to call them.
How it works in Game Of Kings is that an army is divided into three sectors - typically a centre composed of foot, the general and probably guns; and two flanks, each composed of horse and possibly light infantry (but the exact composition of each sector will partly depend on the particulars of the battlefield).
Players move alternately. When on turn a player rolls a 10-sided die - this is normally the only time a die other than a six-sided one is used - to see how many action points the centre gets, and two distinguishable, eg differently coloured, ordinary dice to see how many action points each flank receives.

For each sector, use action points in the following order, the player choosing which sector goes first.
1. Try to rally retreating units (this is the only compulsory use of action points).
2. Fire guns.
3. Move units (a gun that has been fired cannot also be pivoted, limbered or otherwise moved).
4. Fire muskets, carbines and any other missile weapons.
5. Resolve melees.

Two battalions of Bavarian Kurprinz Foot flank a 9pdr gun. Behind them a half-battalion of Kurprinz Grenadiers is beside a horse-and-limber team, illustrating why I no longer use limbers (the space they take up is disproportionate) 

MOVEMENT
Foot in line (as with the Kurprinz above): 6cm
Foot in column, foot retreating and light infantry: 8cm
Limbered guns: 6cm
Heavy and medium horse: 10cm
Light horse and generals: 12cm
But see The Variation below
As mentioned in the caption to the picture above, I no longer use limbers for my guns as I think they look out of proportion to other troops, but a marker can be used to show if a gun is limbered.
It takes a pip for a foot battalion to change from column to line (but changing from line to column is free), and it may not otherwise move or fire that turn.
Heavy-cavalry troopers carried more equipment than their medium-cavalry brethren, but had better mounts, hence their movement rates are identical.
A gun needs an action point to limber or unlimber, but the gun may be pivoted as part of unlimbering.
Foot and horse can make a single 180-degree about-face in a turn without loss of movement, although it does cost an action point.
All troops can pass through friendly light foot without penalty to either group, provided they have enough movement to take them beyond the light foot. Similarly, light infantry can pass through any friendly troops.
There is no bonus for charging, either in terms of movement or melee effectiveness - such matters are deemed to be at a tactical level far below the immediate concern of the general.
When a unit wheels, measure the distance from the front-centre of the unit.
The Variation
Dice are generally used to help decide the effectiveness of musketry, artillery fire, hand-to-hand fighting and morale, but in most rules movement distances are fixed.
I believe this is unrealistic - a general can order a squadron of dragoons to try to seize a hill, but he cannot know exactly how long they will take to reach the hill. Perhaps an unsuspected feature of the terrain will hold them up, or maybe they will be inspired to gallop faster than an enemy squadron trying to take the same hill.
Accordingly, uncertainty is added by rolling a die if a unit is moving three-quarters or more of its maximum move distance. If 6 is thrown, add 25 percent to the distance covered; if 1 is thrown, subtract 25 percent.
Exception: if a unit has been ordered, say, to line a river bank, it would be absurd to make it overshoot and enter the water thanks to The Variation rule.

My regular wargaming opponent is a huge Francophile, and his hero is Maurice de Saxe, shown here with the Picardie Foot in column and the Gendarmes de la Garde

MUSKETRY
A unit can fire within a 45-degree arc of its front.
Musket range: 8cm
Carbine range: 6cm
Roll a die for each 25 percent of effectiveness that is remaining and is in the front line of bases (ie the second base of infantry in column cannot fire).
Minimum score for a hit: regular foot in firing order, 4; light foot, 5; regular foot not in firing order, and dismounted horse, 6.
-1 if the unit moved this turn, is in column, or has become disorganised, eg by retreating, and has not spent a pip to reorganise.

ARTILLERY
A gun can fire within a 45-degree arc of its front.
Canister: 0-6cm. Roll a die and halve the score to get the potential number of hits.
Roundshot: up to 24cm. Roll a die and quarter the score to get the potential number of hits.
(Separate rules for howitzers are unnecessary as they were a small part of any army, and Game Of Kings is not at the low tactical level where their different performance might become relevant.)
Halve the number of potential hits if the gun's effectiveness is 50 percent or less.
If the final result is a fraction, round the number of potential hits to the nearest whole number, but if the fraction is exactly a half, roll a die with a 50:50 chance of the half becoming a potential hit.
For each potential hit, roll a die. A 5 or more means a hit on foot or horse, but a 6 is needed if the target is a gun.

Artillery was often sited on a hill

MELEES
A melee occurs when bases of rival units come in contact and continues for each half-turn they remain in contact. No action point is charged.
Foot cannot initiate contact against horse.
Guns and light infantry never initiate contact and never inflict melee casualties (exception: light foot in a wood or built-up area can melee as regular foot).
A gun can only be contacted if it has no friendly regular foot within 4cm. Guns so contacted are automatically eliminated.
When a melee occurs, roll the following numbers of dice for each 25 percent of a unit's effectiveness (casualties are inflicted simultaneously by each meleeing unit):
Enemy unit:...……..H/MCav...Lan...LCav...Inf (ff)...Inf (oth)...LInf
Own Unit
H/MCav...…………….1...…….2...…..2...…..1...……..3...…….2
Lan...………………….1...…….1...…..1...…..1½...…...4........…4
LCav………………….1...…….2...…...1...….1...……..2...……..3
Inf...…………………..1...……..1...…..1...…..1...……..1...…….1
H/MCav = Heavy or medium cavalry
Lan = Lancers
LCav = Light cavalry
Inf (ff) = Infantry in firing order and attacked frontally
Inf (oth) = Close-order infantry at other times
LInf = Light infantry
Inf = Close-order infantry (remember, light infantry cannot inflict melee casualties except when in a wood or built-up area)
Add one die per 25 percent effectiveness when attacking in flank or rear, on higher ground, defending a river bank or defending a built-up area against troops outside the built-up area. Bonuses are cumulative. A half die has a 50:50 chance of becoming a full die.
A unit meleed from the rear rolls only half its normal dice.
For each die rolled, a 4 or more is a hit.
If infantry is contacted frontally by an enemy unit that began its move outside of musketry range, the infantry may fire prior to the melee being fought, but have a -1 modifier on each throw for a hit.

SAVING THROWS (for hits from firing and in melees)
Cuirassiers suffering a hit form anything except roundshot roll a die, needing a 6 to cancel it.
Troops suffering a hit when behind cover roll a die, needing a 4 or more to cancel it.

A large cavalry melee during my 275th anniversary refight of the Battle of Chotusitz

MORALE
Test any unit which, during a half-turn (a turn consists of Player A's actions and then Player B's), has lost effectiveness to firing or has lost a melee.
Roll a die, needing the following minimum score to avoid losing a further 25 percent effectiveness: elite, 2; regular, 3; poor, 4. (these numbers are decreased by one from the June 2018 edition of the rules)
+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 a gun) is to the rear and could reach the testing unit in two normal moves (a friendly unit can only add support in this way to 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 a morale test, immediately retreats one move (with the normal possible Variation), ending with its back to the enemy.
On subsequent turns, action points must first be used to try to rally retreating units. A 5 or better is required to halt the unit so that it can return to normal action on the following turn. A general with the unit gives +1 to the rallying throw.
A retreating unit is eliminated on the first move if a retreat is obstructed by horse or foot (except if the foot are light infantry). If the blocking unit is friendly, it must take a morale test, unless it is horse retreated into by foot.
Retreating foot that have rallied need a pip to reorganise before they can fire without suffering a -1 modifier.

Looking from behind the French lines at my refight of the Battle of Sahay

WEATHER
This, with minor amendments, comes from Charlie Wesencraft's With Pike And Musket.
At the start of the game, roll dice to determine the weather according to the weather gauge below.

A simple weather gauge

2 = fog
3 = light rain
4-10 = fair
11 = light rain
12 = heavy rain
At the start of each subsequent turn, roll one die to determine if the weather has moved down one notch (a throw of 1 or 2), stayed the same (3 or 4) or moved up one notch (5 or 6).
Weather affects units as follows:
Fog = visibility reduced to 6cm (unseen foes cannot be fired at); movement reduced by 50 percent.
Light rain = all musket and carbine firing suffers -1 per die.
Heavy rain = movement reduced by 25 percent; all musket and carbine firing suffers -2 per die.
Fair = no effect, unless the gauge stays on the same fair number for a third turn, in which case extreme heat reduces movement by 25 percent for as long as the gauge does not move.

RANDOM TERRAIN GENERATOR
For non-historic battles, a random terrain generator can be used.
Because my figures are 10mm scale, and the move distances and firing ranges are suitably small, my 6ft by 2ft 6in table might seem overkill.
In fact I deliberately went for an oversize table to prevent a flanking edge-of-the-world effect that in my opinion spoils too many wargame set-ups.
Anyway, here is how the random terrain generator works.
1. Mentally divide the board into 12 sectors (two rows of six) each 1ft by 1ft 3in.
2. Roll a die for each sector, a 4-6 indicating a terrain piece.
3. If a terrain piece is indicated, roll again: 1-hill, 2-water (stream, river, lake or marsh, etc), 3-wood, 4-built-up area (anything from a farmstead to a walled town), 5-Player A's choice, 6-Player B's choice.
If the exact nature and size of the feature cannot be agreed by the players, more dicing will be necessary. This is also a good way to decide the route a river takes across the board.
Note that on average a battlefield generated under this system will have six terrain features, but a stream or river might well run through several sectors while still counting as a single feature.

NATIONAL/ARMY CHARACTERISTICS
Decide these on a battle-by-battle basis.
For example, Prussian foot at my Mollwitz refight added 1 to musketry throws, while Prussian horse in melees inflicted a hit on a throw of 5-6 instead of 4-6.

VICTORY
Total each side's army points at the start of a battle using 3pts for a general, 2pts for a foot battalion and 1pt for each other unit (including light infantry).
Unless specific objectives have been agreed, an army loses when its army points fall below half the starting total.

 

KEY SUMMARY

MOVEMENT
Foot in line and limbered guns: 6cm
Other foot: 8cm
Heavy and medium horse: 10cm
Light horse and generals: 12cm
Variation die throw: 6 +25%; 1 -25%
MUSKETRY
Musket: 8cm
Carbine: 6cm
One die per 25% effectiveness
Score needed for a hit: firing-order foot, 4; light foot, 5; other foot and dismounted horse, 6.
-1 if firers moved, in column or disorganised.
ARTILLERY
Canister: 6cm. Die halved gives potential hits.
Roundshot: 24cm. Die quartered gives potential hits.
Halve hits if gun's effectiveness is 50% or less.
Fractions rounded to nearest whole number, but a half is diced for.
Roll each potential hit, needing a 5 against foot and horse, a 6 against guns.
MELEES
Enemy unit:...……..H/MCav...Lan...LCav...Inf (ff)...Inf (oth)...LInf
Own Unit
H/MCav...…………….1...…….2...…..2...…..1...……..3...…….2
Lan...………………….1...…….1...…..1...…..1½...…...4........…4
LCav………………….1...…….2...…...1...….1...……..2...……..3
Inf...…………………..1...……..1...…..1...…..1...……..1...…….1
Add one die per 25% effectiveness for each of the following: flank/rear attack, uphill, defending river bank or built-up area.
Unit meleed from rear only rolls half its normal dice.
4 or more scores a hit.
SAVING THROWS
Cuirassiers: 6, except if hit by roundshot.
Behind cover: 4.
MORALE
Test after losing effectiveness to firing or losing a melee.
Score needed to avoid losing further 25%: elite, 2; regular, 3, poor, 4.
+1 general attached.
+1 friendly horse or foot (not light) to rear and within two moves.
Unit that fails morale or loses a melee retreats one move (include variation roll). Needs 5 to rally (general +1).