Campaign Counters

The upcoming campaign in Muckenmire is planned to be a little different from the previous Spitzplatz affair, mainly because I want to split he armies up a lot more. Before, I had two large armies colliding every so often for a major battle, but with this campaign I am hoping to fight more 'small' battles between a few units at a time in various places, to get a bit more strategic interest. To this end, I've made up my hexagon map and drawn it with Google Sketchup. There are a large number of roads and fortresses, and armies will need to have a road running back to their supply source through a succession of friendly fortresses. One problem this posed was that as the armies were split up they'd be pretty short on infantry, and detaching more and more as garrison troops just seemed to likely make things worse.

What with all the painting having been mostly done, the chances of me expanding the armies was precisely zero! So, I decided to break them down a bit more, and represent every regiment on the campaign map with a pair of counters - effectively a first and second battalion for each regiment of infantry and cavalry. This should mean that fortresses get held correctly and a decent force still turns up on each battlefield!

I made counters by simply printing off a grid of squares by using Excel, then I went to Junior General to get pictures of the various troop types, placed them in each box, and printed them out. Although with a bit of work I could have printed the text for each unit, I preferred to hand-write them on myself. Far easier than trying to insert text boxes around nested drawings in Word, which has become a total nightmare every time I've tried to do it!

I also wanted to avoid the 'killer stack' situation where each side forms a monster-sized grand army and can't be stopped, so the endless possibilities for cutting supplies should mean that a variety of smaller armies can elude and frustrate a large single enemy. This will give the personalities a bit of scope for independent action, which may or may not be wise in the strategic sense, but should be fun for the game!

With all this growth on the strategic level, I was also able to fling in a few non-tabletop items which would not be deployed in model form. First up I wanted to include some sappers, or engineers who could help the armies cross the rivers and soggy terrain. I made up one counter for 'Pontooneers' or bridge-building engineers, drew a stylised plan view of a boatbridge (crude and basic, true, but it does the job!) I issued one of these counters to each army, to get them going.

The other big strategic factor is all those fortresses, and struggling around with sieges will be required. As a result, I also issued each army with a set of 'Siege Artillery' counters to serve as the army's siege train. This will represent all the heavy guns, mortars, pioneers, gabions and shovels a man could want. It's possible to besiege a fort without the siege counter, but it's presence will give big bonuses to anybody who tries it.

That covers the armies on the strategic level, so I'll shortly post on my method for setting up the armies and deploying them, plus the initial strategies each side will try to follow. I will also, in the next few weeks, try and give a more detailed Black Powder ruleset example, as some posts have requested a bit more detail on how it plays.

Black Powder Battle Report

I've had a one-off battle to try out the Black Powder Rules, and thought I'd post some photos & notes. Very loosely, the fight was a re-run in the style of the recent ‘Might & Reason’ ruleset battle of Froschbach from a month or two ago. I adopted a ‘pile everything on’ philosophy and decided to simply play every painted and based figure I could. Luftberg were there in full, of course. Aschenbach were mainly present, and could muster a decent show – they had only one Grenadier unit, a half-sized Fusilier regiment, and one missing Infantry regiment. Cavalry were also 75% done in Cuirassiers and Dragoons, so rather than field one full and one half-sized unit of each I put them all into one large unit of each – subtle as a brick through a window!

The battle plan adopted was pretty similar, mainly because I was curious how each rule-set would handle it. The field was roughly similar too – each side advanced in columns onto a field with a stream perpendicular to the two battle-lines, plus some hills to the edges.

Aschenbach went for the central Infantry attack with a mass of Cavalry on the right flank, to turn the line. Luftberg deployed similarly, but had Cavalry on both their flanks and deployed (as per the old ‘brigades’ standardising notion I had devised and not gotten round to using,) which meant that the left flank was all Dragoons & the right flank was all Cuirassiers. The whole army was preceded by the ‘Advance Guard’ brigade of shifty Irregular types, Croats and Hussars.

The battlefield (Photos courtesy of Google Earth)

The battle began with Luftberg proving themselves slightly above clueless, only getting basic single-move orders to fumble forward while Aschenbach were clearly able to move far faster. Generally all seemed favourable for Aschenbach’s big central attack, but although the attack brigade made good rolls and hurtled forward to catch the Luftberg troops still deploying, the other brigades lagged behind. The left infantry brigade was particularly troubled by the stream slowing it’s movement and the oncoming enemy cavalry. Clearly moving at max speed and ignoring the rest of the army is not a good idea!

The confused Luftberg advance

Aschenbach's neat battle-line advances

In the centre, Aschenbach hammered on with it’s two lead units up front – one Line Infantry, one Grenadiers – which crashed into a firefight with the lead Luftberg units. The rash advance suddenly looked very unwise, as the lumbering Luftberg masses steadily sorted themselves out – enlivened by the odd regiment ‘blundering’ it’s orders and sailing off in totally the wrong direction! Rapidly, the fight developed into Aschenbach’s two regiments locking horns with five enemy regiments! With both flanks enfiladed, Croats firing in on them, plus Hussars threatening their rear, it rapidly turned into a disaster. Both regiments became disordered, meaning they couldn’t be pulled back from the disastrous situation, and when they were finally hauled out they were badly shaken by the hot reception!

The lead units get enfiladed and disordered

Croats, Hungarians and Fusiliers struggle on the flank

The battered survivors back away, under pursuit

So, where were their supporting units? The cavalry brigade had a fantastic time smashing up the Luftberg dragoons opposite them, but they were weakened themselves and found that by the time they had seen off their opposite numbers, the Luftberg infantry were in place to hold them back. They never even had a chance to try it, as the central attack failed before they had reformed to come and assist, the useless show-boaters!

Aschenbach Cavalry - thanks a bunch, guys!

As to the left-flank infantry, what about them? Well, they advanced gamely enough but rolled badly for orders, plus the stream slowed them down further, representing a terrible dawdling when the crisis broke! As the Luftberg Cuirassier brigade closed in, they deployed into line and unlimbered their batteries to receive them. The disadvantage of having one flank wide open and cavalry-free quickly became obvious! Although one Cuirassier regiment was shot up and forced to a standstill, the other two proceeded to charge and outflank batteries and regiments one after the other, rolling up the line like an old carpet. Finally all Aschenbach units on the left bank of the river were swept away! With one flank wrecked, the other stalled, and the centre reeling, Aschenbach had clearly lost the day and retreated. A sterling victory for Luftberg!

Overall, disaster for Aschenbach was pretty likely as they weren’t bringing their ‘best game’ to the table, what with being only partially completed. Over-eager advances on good order rolls are clearly very unwise, as keeping your force together is pretty essential. An excellent, fun first game, which was far faster than Might & Reason as well as more action-packed!

It is also probably worth adding a little bit more about the Black Powder (BP) Rules, now they’ve been played. The advantage of superior orders seems best while ‘unengaged.’ Once units close up to the enemy, they are more limited in their movements and can make an automatic single move by initiative – and they’ll probably not need more than one. Well-led armies will want to engage in the dramatic flanking marches to turn an enemy line, as the higher order rolls will be useful here in the early stages. BP seems to be a good set of rules for mobile, dramatic battles (ie, the fun type!) I would also add that the 24-man unit is not critical to play. All you need to be able to do is show formations, so technically you could probably play it with a DBx-style of army, if you just used little counters or something to show if units were in line or column, etc. Mind you, you’d lose the visual effect, and a 4-figure unit might look a bit weird with three casualty markers at it’s base (almost more figures shot down than standing - embarrasing!)

The victor preens himself on an overlooking hill...

...While the loser slinks away. Let me know how it turns out, lads!

The Parade Ground

I know I promised to detail my campaign plans, and I shall in a day or two, but first – a little diversion for two bits of news in my gaming world, both of them big!

My original games were played out on an old ‘Subbuteo’ game mat, which is basically a green bit of cloth 3 or 4 ft square, and this has been a regular battlefield for me over about ten or fifteen years – no exaggerating! It’s certainly done great service, but I finally decided it was time to get a replacement. Not least because I filled the old mat with the 50% reduced armies in the battle of Froschbach, which meant that any further battles on the old mat would be like a knife-fight in a phone booth. Popping down to Homebase, I’ve bought a grass-green throw to act as my new field of conflict. According to the label it’s 150cm by 200cm, and for the non-metric folk out there that translates into a roughly five foot by six-and-a-half foot of space. Very roomy, even if a bit of that is lost in the tassels at the end, and not bad for about £15.

That would be a big development on it’s own, but there’s more – the lead mountain has shrunk! Here, for the first time ever, is the Luftberg army envisioned over a year ago. Now fully realised in it’s painted and based glory, here is a sight on the wargames table I’ve devoted countless evenings and weekends to realising through 2008, 2009 and 2010. Hooray for Luftberg! Death to their foes!

The full army on parade. I find I have to zoom out far more than normal to see everything on the double-base units!

Infantry Regiments in line, plus artillery.

Dragoon Regiments.

Cuirassiers, Hussars, Grenadiers and Croats.

Elector Ulrich Von Luftberg himself, plus kibitzing nobility of a militarily-minded persuasion.

New Campaign

So, now to the new campaign. What’s wanted now is a genuine break from the norm, no generic province in central Europe but a specific one with some character of it’s own.

Welcome to the province of Muckenmire, as ghastly a backwater of low-lying, rain-sodden, semi-submerged bogland as could ever be wished onto a hated enemy. The source of nothing but over-religious peasants, tastelessly rich merchants, moodily-lit landscape paintings, outrageously elaborate cheeses and innovative waterproof footwear. In short, no decent Luftberg gentleman could regard the place as anything other than a nightmarish hell-hole. And flat – so very, very, flat.

The province is heavily inspired by the actual Hapsburg holdings of the Austrian Netherlands (modern-day Belgium, basically.) Muckenmire was inherited by Luftberg through various treaties as a bargaining-chip. They never had a desire for it, have no interest in it, and aim to foist it off at the first opportunity onto some luckless counterpart. Spoiling the party, Aschenbach seek to take it.

A year has passed since the Spitzplatz war. Feldmarschall Krumper is now the ruling monarch of Aschenbach through succeeding to the throne, after the sad death of his senile and elderly father. It’s the role he was effectively doing anyway as the Prince Regent, but now he’s able to exercise full uninhibited power. Picking off a low-hanging fruit like Muckenmire should be a tantalisingly easy trick!

In Muckenmire itself Von Hentsch, semi-banished to the province’s governorship, fumes over events in the capital of Brederdam. He was side-tracked into a backwater, only to see it become the focus of Aschenbach’s latest agression. Now however, instead of being left to his own devices he is faced with a steady stream of his contemporaries (ie, rivals for glory) arriving as part of the Luftberg buildup.


The geography for Muckenmire is based on the Low Countries, plus – with a flagrant disregard for reality – turned thru 180 degrees just for the hell of it, to make things ‘fresher’. Distinguishing characteristics include the low water table, many small rivers, marshes, etc. One major river (the Schelve), plus a provinvial capital in it’s mouth. It has a largely urban population and most large towns are fortified, plus a few canals, a good road network, and some scattered woodland at the fringes. Actual tactical maps will be ‘in character’ and heavily favour marshes, fenland, streams, ponds, polder and dikes.

Next post I'll cover the military plans of the two old protagonists.

Black Powder: A Review

The postman has finally delivered my copy of the Black Powder rules, and so I thought I should post a review from my first reading:

Intro
First, the basics: Black Powder is a new set of rules by the Games Workshop old-hands Rick Priestley & Jervis Johnson, and is published by Warlord Games. It covers a period of a full 200 years, broadly from 1700 to 1900. (Readers of this blog will probably be minded towards the SYW themselves, and there is certainly lots of suitability.)

Appearance
First thing is first: the actual look of the book is incredible. No stapled A4 booklet here! Hardback, nice illustrations, a colour picture on virtually every page, and usually of a ridiculously vast diorama. This is a genuine work of love by a set of enthusiasts, and easily the best-looking book I’ve ever seen in the hobby. Maybe standards are higher nowadays and this merely shows my ignorance, but this is surely excellent stuff in anyone’s eyes.

Language & Style
The actual writing is marvellously judged to suit the period, typically being rather over-polite and gentlemanly, shot through with a dry humour. For example, the Foreword advises it is “a game for militarily inclined gentlemen with straight backs, bristling beards, and rheumy eyes that have seen a thing or two … The library or billiard room will serve as our battlefield, or else some similarly spacious and secluded refuge. Ensure that children are safely put to bed and … secure the doors against the intrusion of womenfolk as yet unfamiliar with the conventions of war.” What’s not to like in that? Each topic in the rules is typically given a 2-page spread, so it’s all visible when laid open on the table for reference mid-game. There are no excessive bullet-points or quick summaries, but a discussive tone, with the same humorous style throughout. For example, when the rules mention marking casualties on units they advise using models of fallen soldiers, adding: “Some gamers will doubtless feel that this service can be provided equally well with pen and paper. This notion has a whiff of accountancy about it and can only be recommended to those irretreivably so inclined.”

Mechanics
The game itself is simple and has a no-nonsense straightforwardness. There is a standard and unvarying ‘to hit’ roll and a ‘save’ roll on all combat, and all modifiers merely increase or decrease the number of dice rolled – making it very easy to remember. Each generic type of unit has a profile stating the number of dice rolled for shooting or hand-to-hand combat, a morale value (the number of save dice it rolls) plus a stamina level. Successful hits leave casualty markers, and when they exceed the stamina level it becomes possible the unit can break and flee.
Orders are given from a dice roll, to individual units or a group, depending on a general’s ability and luck – if he fails to issue an order he must stop all other intended orders, forcing careful consideration and prioritising. Also, if he rolls very badly there is the possibility of a nasty blunder taking place!
That, in a nutshell, is it! The mechanics are remarkably close in style to Warmaster, in case any of this is sounding familiar.
For particular flavour there are pages of Special Rules listed, all of minor but telling tweaks which have quite an impact through the simple games system. Each one is not usually specified for where and when it should be used, but is accompanied by a small commentary discussing the impact it has, and the sort of rough style of troops it should be applied to. This makes the reader take up slack, judging for themselves whether they think Prussian Infantry should be given the ‘First Fire’ or ‘Sharp Shooters’ bonus, and so on.
As a final note, I should add that the book has advanced rules, covers unusual items like howitzers or rockets, personalities for generals, half a dozen played-through battle reports as extended examples, plus some appendices of advice for different scales and sizing of units.

Conclusion
The level of detail and specific instructions in Black Powder has been deliberately left low, with the writers taking long stride back from telling you how to do everything. They expect enthusiastic players to work things out themselves, and don’t spoon-feed you requirements. I would say this is as much a toolkit for wargaming as a ruleset - especially with the special rules mentioned above. It aims to point a way, accepts most wargamers rewrite things and use ‘house-rules’ anyway, and so puts much more emphasis on players to think right from the start. It’s actually remarkable to think of the ‘classic’ elements of rulebooks left out: There are no minimum force sizes, no setup zones, no army lists, and not even a points system! (Well, all right – they grudgingly and disdainfully include a “suggested” points system for tournament play, hidden away in one of the appendices. They encourage players to simply do it the historical way – fight a battle with a force you reckon is adequate to win the day against the enemy. In other words, the very thing that a points system just puts an arbitrary figure on!) This results in an Exhilirating sense of freedom and the aim is just as much – if not more – to encourage enthusiasm for wargaming. About a third of the book is example battles written up and played through, and combined with the whole book’s discussive style it is remarkably reminiscent of the 1970s books by Charles Grant or Donald Featherstone. In fact, I would suggest it is at least their spiritual descendant, owing them a huge debt.

Should you try it? If you want a detailed, scientific set of rules, I would advise “No.” If you want a playable and simple set with the emphasis on game rather than simulation, I would advise “Yes.” And if you liked ‘The War Game’ by Charles Grant, I would advise “Definitely!”

It's All About Personality

With painting proceeding apace on the 'lead mountain', I can turn my attention to the upcoming campaign. I am planning to have a more varied terrain than before, with the two armies scattered it into various smaller groups. This may make a big 'all units on the table' battle less likely in the campaign, but it should allow for lots of more varied fighting as various sub-commanders march around. I'm aiming to get a campaign focused more on Luftberg, and specifically the internal rivalries of it's characters. Fighting Aschenbach might be the day-job, but with your back-biting rivals all around you, this internecine fight is personal!

With this in mind, plus the upcoming chance of more independent action, it's probably a good idea to look over who our various personalities are - and consider how their standing has been altered by the conclusion of the Spitzplatz campaign.

Elector Ulrich Von Luftberg is top of the heap, absolute ruler of Luftberg in perpetuity, etc. etc. He did not take part in the recent Spitzplatz campaign, due to it being effectively being engineered and run by Felix Von Hentsch. However, his previous outing saw him win the major battle of Vogelhof, still the greatest battlefield defeat that Aschenbach have ever taken. In fact, he won the whole war and took over the whole province for Luftberg following a successful siege back in 2008 (well, whatever the imagiNation year-equivalent is!) He'll get brought out of his semi-retirement to command the national army again, putting personal reputation on the line once more.

Graf Felix Von Hentsch is the embodiment of supreme evil, coldly plotting to usurp the Electorate for the Von Hentsch family. As his own dynasty seemed like the only alternative to the ruling family, marrying into the royal house looked like a sure thing as long as no rivals appeared and Von Hentsch prestige remained high. Sadly for his plots, the Spitzplatz campaign came along. In the campaign, Von Hentsch aimed to loot the five cities in the province to ruin the newcomer Von Bitzhelm family. He only managed two of the five, which means that the Von Hentsch clan now has a rival to deal with. Plus, although he managed to snatch a stalemate at the end of the campaign, he lost several pitched battles to the Aschenbach army, rather tarnishing his self-proclaimed reputation as a military genius. Still plotting away, Von Hentsch is a man with enemies to destroy and a reputation to restore.

Graf Karl Von Bitzhelm is the dynastic ruler of Spitzplatz, and his family are famous for being vastly wealthy and ugly - the classic 'arrogant noble'. Although the campaign through his lands didn't kill off Aschenbach claims to it (and probably guarantees a later campaign will need to be fought,) his siding with Luftberg meant he is now highly politically favoured - much to Von Hentsch's annoyance. He's never taken the field before, but really - how difficult can it be? If that villainous Von Hentsch can do it while stealing off the Von Bitzhelms, then surely it can't be that hard!

Freiherr Tobias Ludwig is the most junior of the quartet, who shot to prominence during the Spitzplatz campaign. The great-nephew of the Tradgardland Duke, he arrived mid-campaign

and proceeded to give Luftberg's military some of it's best moments. He even led a semi-suicidal attack at the battle of Froschbach, and with the aggressive cockiness he's famous for, he doubtless believes that if he'd been given a more senior role he could've saved the whole battle for Luftberg. Clearly valued as a subordinate by Von Hentsch, it's unlikely that Ludwig sees it in quite those terms.

So, four various commanders for the upcoming campaign - all of whom like some but hate most. The summary breakdown runs as:

Luftberg likes Bitzhelm (rich, plus guarantees Spitzplatz to Luftberg); hates Von Hentsch (plotter, and nearly lost the war); and dislikes Ludwig (jumped-up swaggerer!)

V. Hentsch likes Ludwig (trusty second-in-command); hates Luftberg (as he wants his throne); and hates Bitzhelm (his rival to power.)

Bitzhelm likes Luftberg (his new political ally), likes Ludwig (arrogant aristocrat, so a kindred spirit); and hates Von Hentsch (he plundered his cities for his own wealth!)

Ludwig likes Luftberg (the head of his adoptive homeland); hates Von Hentsch (who should have resigned his command and given him the army) and hates Von Bitzhelm (older, uglier, and a new rival to this military glory-hog!)

It's worth noting that the above wasn't really 'written' by me - the relationships just seemed to form up that way as the named leaders marched around and played out the battles. It's a nice sign of things taking on a life of their own. How this dysfunctional crew will function when Aschenbach comes calling remains to be seen, but it should be "interesting" if nothing else!

New Year, New Plans

Many belated returns, everybody! I hope you had a good holiday season. I've been getting back into normal life over the past week, but I've still kept active with my wargaming plans.

First, the old campaign has come to it's conclusion at the tail-end of last year - rather good timing, as it has lasted for about a year in the real-world, as each side contested the province of Spitzplatz. I'll post shortly tying up all the ImagiNation-world changes, and rounding it off (in other words, digging back over old posts from 2008 to review who met their objectives!) Once this is done a new campaign with some fresh quirk will be launched, to let Aschenbach and Luftberg once again continue to test themselves against a new contrivance of fortune.

So, what for the new year? Well, over the holidays I did two big things. The first was to invest in a new wargames rules-set, and the second was quite a lot of painting.

First, with a bit of Xmas money as a present (I never specify hobby items as presents, as my family tend not to be too sharp on military compositions for armies in the mid/late 18th Century - bafflingly) I have bought a set of rules. It came from listening to the excellent 'Meeples & Miniatures' podcast, which I recommend if you like to hear two entertainingly affable wargamers chatter at length about the hobby. Anyway, they recently reviewed the ruleset 'Black Powder' quite favourably, and this caught my attention for several reasons:

a) it's written by Rick Priestley, who did the old Games Workshop rules that first got me into wargaming (and yes, that rulebook is still on my shelf)
b) It's a big hardback book which looks excellent
c) It's been described as having the old 'classic' discussive tone of the likes of Charles Grant and other 1970's-vintage books
d) It covers SYW, Napoleonics and ACW, which are all favoured periods with me
e) It is apparently quite similar in mechanics to Warmaster, which I always felt was criminally under-rated.

So, with that I have sent away for it and am awaiting delivery (it seems to have sold well, and stocks are currently 'on order'.) I'll post a review when it arrives. The only offputting factor was that I had heard it was a 'big battalions' ruleset, which used 24-figure units. I was a bit uneasym until my mental gears creaked into action and I realised that my existing 15mm figures are based in 24-man infantry regiments already! Ah, happy fortune!

Secondly, I have been painting a lot. As readers may know, I have been battling for months to paint flat-out, while playing SYW games along the way. For much of Autumn I managed to nearly burn myself out with frantic painting. In fact, I swore off it and decided to give myself a break. However, the old adage that 'a change is as good as a rest' proved right, and I found myself painting - just on other things. I've been busy on a 6mm medieval army (which I've mentioned on my other 'General Headquarters' blog) plus a pile of Perry ACW figures, etc. Things got encouraging however when I wrapped up the medieval project over the holidays. With this boost, plus a new-year burst of enthusiasm, I have turned back to the last remaining units in my army-expansion project. Pictured below is my 'Lead Mountain':


As you may be able to see, I have my masterplan on paper (in the "2010 SYW TO DO LIST") plus a stack of figures. Some are raw lead, totally unpainted, while others are completely finished and need merely rebased. In all, there are 18 bases of infantry and cavalry left to do.

So, that's the new year - new figures, new rules, and a new campaign!