The Invasion plans

A whole fortnight has passed since I last posted, due to real-life work, wargame record-keeping bogging me down, plus numerous other projects rumbling on at the same - there's always something! Anyway, what's needed is a campaign overview to show how things have been developing for the protagonists.

Aschenbach are invading, and to avoid the single easily-isolated army I split the total force into three roughly equal parts. Von Krumper would take his third (styles the 'main' army, because - well, he's the king, basically!) and head directly for the province capital of Brederdam, stuck on it's little island in the mouth of the mighty Schelve river. Krumper would take the eastern road and then cross the northern fork of the Schelve by pontoon bridge, arriving on the island and besieging the city by it's landward side. Approaching directly from the north would mean attacking over a river, and the swampy ground north of Brederdam didn't exactly promise a happy fate for any siege guns hauled into it! His advance has gone well enough, but sadly he has been compelled to stop and build up supply depots to operate across the river. Something of an unfortunate delay, but now he's gathering himself for the river crossing (which is next for the gaming table.)

In the centre of this province would go the second army, led by the grizzled old veteran, General Von Grenwitz. His job is to try and clear the province north of the Schelve of all enemy troops. At best, this means capturing the city of Oosterheide, but at a bare minimum it means protecting Von Krumper's advance in the east and keeping Luftberg raiders off his flanks and supply lines. It swiftly proved that Oosterheide was strongly garrisoned with a regiment of infantry, and therefore that a siege was only going to succeed if the Luftberg army completely failed to intervene - a highly unlikely turn of events. Sure enough it proved so, as once Von Grenwitz occupied the town of Dolderburg he received news that a Luftberg army under the Graf Von Bitzhem was crossing the Schelve to his south and rushing up the road, looking for a fight. Well, as you'll have seen from the last battle report, he gave it one! The two armies met a short distance from Dolderburg and Luftberg was defeated, the battered remains pulling back to the town of Veldhuizburg on the Schelve river.

So much for the two armies, but what of the third? Well, the third and final component was placed under Von Hartling and held back for a delayed entry. It was felt that there was a serious risk that the line of the Schelve river could become a kind of impregnable moat for the defenders, and so Von Hartling is to enter in the west of the province, which lets him come out behind the line of the river where it curves north. Any Luftberg defence which had formed in the first few months would be outflanked, and the river line could be rolled up like a carpet - genius! Well, so Von Krumper naturally thinks.

The map above (which is hopefully enlarge-able, although I can never work these things out) should give some sense of where they are - Krumper is the easternmost arrow, Grenwitz is the central one, while Von Hartling's planned entrance is shown in the west as a dashed route. I will post more maps soon, when I cover the province's fractious defenders.

The Battle of Dolderburg

Hello everyone, and welcome to my overdue play-through example of Black Powder in action! There has been a meeting engagement in the opening stages of the campaign (of which more shall follow) and below is an account of the first clash. General Von Grenwitz has marched a small force of Aschenbach troops to the town of Dolderburg - a critical point for the early stages of the Aschenbach invasion. Marching rapidly to meet him is the Luftberg army in the vicinity under General Von Bitzhelm, intending to meet on the batlefield and get the rookie Bitzhelm his first battlefield victory. Setup was a nondescript bit of countryside with a few low rises, some woods and hedges, plus a stream snaking along a peaceful valley between the sides. Each army marched on as a 'meeting engagement' type of scenario, although through campaign situations the Luftberg army was allowed to deploy it's regiment of hussars along the stream, as a kind of advanced picket.

Aschenbach Army (The Hon. General Von Grenwitz commanding)
Von Schott's 'Hirschburger' Grenadier Regiment
No.5 Von Moglich's Infanterie Regiment (1 battalion only - half sized unit)
No. 1 Von Schnitzel Kurassier Regiment
No. 2 Von Flunck Dragoner Regiment
Artillerie Battery No. 1

Luftberg Army (His Grace the Graf Von Bitzhelm commanding)
IR1 Radetzky Infanterie Regiment
IR3 O'Brien Infanterie Regiment
DR3 Hortenburg Dragoner Regiment
HR1 Rotwang Husaren Regiment
Artillerie Battery No. 2

A numerical superiority to Luftberg, but a qualitative edge to Aschenbach (what's new?)

Let battle commence!

Turn 1
Orders Phase
Luftberg kicked off by seeking to advance forward and get into fighting trim by the stream. Verbalising his orders to the troops as follows (in our head we can best imagine a slightly German-tinged accent): “Ze entire Brigade vill move forwards und deploy into line between ze wooded hill und hedges.” Accompanied by a commanding sweep of the measuring-stick to gesture the line intended, the brigade (the entire army in this case) rolls to see how many times it can move towards fulfilling this. The Luftberg army has a Command rating of 7, and this gets +2 for all the units being in march column to reflect their mobility. This means a Command Rating of 9 in the end, which he has to roll on 2D6 to get a move. If he rolls 2 or 3 less than it, he gets 2 or 3 moves correspondingly. As only 10+ rolls will mean a failure, he’s pretty likely to do well. Bitzhelm rolls 2D6 and gets a 7 – excellent! 2 under his command rating, so he gets two moves. The columns move off at a sprightly 6” per move pace (I’m halving the ranges in BP because I’m in 15mm.) Being out of range there’s no shooting or hand-to-hand combat yet.

Over on the other bank, the Aschenbach army is sent on a flying march south (parallel to the stream) to try and snatch the defensive position on a hill this side of the stream – what with Grenwitz unwilling to try and force a crossing in the teeth of the advancing Luftbergers. The Aschenbach Command rating is 8, plus he also has the +2 for being in march – he rolls a 7 so gets three moves, zipping his infantry across to the hill and ready to deploy. The cavalry continue to lurk opposite the stream, ready to charge any crossing attempt.

Turn 2
Bitzhelm wants to take on the hill before the enemy get thoroughly set up to meet him. He orders his intantry and artillery to move east to face it and begin bombarding it. His modified Command rating is 9, but he rolls an 11! The order has failed, and as a result Bitzhelm can issue no more orders this turn – looks like the Dragoons will just have to kick their heels and wait for word from HQ next turn!

Luckily however, the failures appear to be on both sides. Expecting an easy job to finish his deployment into line on the hilltop, Grenwitz needs 10 or less and gets – 11 as well! Doubtless some strange mood in the air! (Incidentally, if Aschenbach had been playing with the ‘Superb Drill’ special rule on it’s infantry, they would have been allowed one automatic move towards fulfilling their orders even after a failure – rather handy insurance against just this sort of fumble.)

Turn 3
Bitzhelm retries the order, and gets a 6 – three less than his rating, so three moves! Unfolding into line and crossing the hedgerows, his infantry close the distance at a worrying rate – right up to the stream edge, where they squeeze in slightly obliquely to fit in by the Hussars. The cannon also follow up on the flank, deploy, and the firing begins!

Shooting Phase
IR1 Radetzky is at the bottom of the hill, and it’s 9” range can reach the Aschenbach ‘Hirschburger’ Grenadiers on the summit, who are still in marching column! The regiment gets 3 dice to roll, and gets hits on a 4+. Unluckily they miss all three, which is just as well because the saving throw for the Grenadiers would have been very low in March Column, leaving them in a bad state! The artillery made up for it however, and banged away energetically. At medium range it rolled 2 dice (4+ to hit as normal,) and managed to roll a single hit. The grenadiers roll their save and need a 3+ to ignore the hit (typically it’s a 4+ to save, but these are Grenadiers with superior discipline!) As they are in march column and unprepared for cannonballs hurtling through their ranks, the save has a -2 modifier. The result is a 5+ needed , and they fail the roll – a hit is marked on the unit with a counter showing a casualty. If a unit takes 3 (or 4 for the grenadiers) hits it becomes shaken, and risks collapse. The shooting turn ended with the other infantry regiment - IR3 O’Brien – firing a volley at the Cuirassiers on the far bank, but sadly they also failed to score any hits.

Aschenbach’s move saw orders being issues (angrily?) for the infantry to get into line at once and begin firing. The grenadiers do so, finally deploying for action. Right afterwards however, the artillery fail to unlimber and bring the furious Grenwitz’s orders phase to a halt. The grenadiers fire back, and also roll 3 dice needing 4+. They roll a 4, 5 and 5 – three hits! Devilish luck! (There isn’t even a need to use the Aschenbach infantry’s special ‘sharpshooter’ rule and reroll a single missed dice each turn.) That leaves IR1 with three saves to roll for, 4+ required. They successfully save two and take one hit.

Turn 4
Fearing a lop-sided musketry duel, Bitzhelm orders his infantry to cross the stream and charge home to overcome the enemy! Sadly his Orders roll of 10 is no good, and the lads clearly feel rather ambivalent about the whole thing. Only firing remains to be done, and each infantry regiment scores a hit each on the Grenadiers and Cuirassiers, but both make their saves. The artillery misses altogether, which probably means some farmer off in the rear is getting his field ploughed for him!

Aschenbach manage to unlimber their guns and get them into action at last, and also pull their single brigade into line on the Grenadiers’ flank. This housekeeping is accompanied by an order to the Cuirassiers who are told to pull back slightly to get out of musket range. Grenwitz rolls a natural double-six, which meand not just failure, but an outright blunder! Thankfully when the random effect is diced for the Cuirassiers do not charge solo over the stream and against the enemy infantry; instead they withdraw two full moves, taking themselves straight off the table – the order to pull back was obviously taken a bit too literally!

With this, it’s back to firing. The grenadiers fire and get 1 hit, plus the ‘to hit’ dice rolls a natural six, which means that the lively fire throws the target into disorder! This is a one-turn temporary confusion which prevents orders and reduces fighting ability, and represents an ideal opportunity to charge into hand-to-hand combat to rout a unit (or it would, except here there’s that damn stream in the way.) Next the newly-deployed artillery blast at the other infantry regiment IR3 gets a hit too with a six. The regiment makes it’s save, but the disorder still applies – this confusion is contagious! To round off Bitzhelm’s misery, the infantry battalion also fires at the artillery battery and scores a hit on the crews. Thoughts turn to retreat, as this hillock of Grenadiers is clearly not going to fall to firepower or get charged.

Turn 5
With his infantry trying to recover from the staggering effect of incoming fire, orders are out of the question. He resolves to try and get his cavalry over the river and hopefully turn a flank. It was too dangerous before with two regiments of enemy horse waiting, but now with the Cuirassiers taken off the scene with the misunderstood orders to withdraw, the odds look much better! The hussars are ordered to cross and charge, but roll an 8 when they need 7 or less – useless irregulars! With their failure there’s not even the option of bringing up the Dragoons and deploying them for a fight. Luftberg is left with only ineffective firing, where the artillery lands yet another hit on the grenadiers which they save.

Aschenbach decides now is the moment to press forward, so the infantry are ordered to march down the hill in preparation to crossing the stream and see off the enemy. They actually roll a 6 which gives two moves, but as no specific order to charge was given so contact is not allowed. No matter – each side now lines the opposite bank of the stream, exchanging fire at close range (a +1 to hit, which means dice will only need 3+ at such point-blank conditions!) The grenadiers duly make good on this, rolling a spectacular three hits, which the luckless IR1 Radetzky promptly fails each save for with a string of twos and threes. (In case you haven’t noticed, the dice seemed resolved to favour Aschenbach throughout this game!) With 2 existing hits and now 3 more, this total of 5 hits takes them over their stamina limit – the unit is not just disorganised, but on the brink of an outright morale collapse!

The break test
The stamina value is 3, but with the total of hits now at 5, the taking of excess casualties through firing means the unit must take a ‘break test.’ The regiment rolls 2D6 and consults the table with it’s modified result. Colonel Radetzky wants a high number but gets a godawful 5. This is further reduced by -2 (for the casualties in excess of his stamina number) and -1 (as he’s already disordered at the time of taking this test) to give him a score of 2: utter destruction! The surviving soldiers in IR1 take to their heels, fleeing to the rear as fast as they can go.

As well as this excitement on the turn, Grenwitz got some results elsewhere – he just barely managed a difficult order for the Cuirassiers to return (very difficult because of the distance to them, and he didn’t want to go riding off after them himself at this point in the battle!) Also, the artillery managed to place a casualty marker on IR3, although the infantry failed to harm the Luftberg battery as they closed in.

Turn 6
IR3 finally get to remove their ‘Disorder’ marker, and decide to pull back behind the protective obstacle of the hedgerows for some cover. As the enemy are within 6” the regiment can make a single move on initiative, avoiding the need to roll a command test. It does so, getting itself into the protective terrain (+1 to all it’s morale save rolls.) Bitzhelm attempts to order the cavalry into action again, before the enemy Cuirassiers can return. He orders the Dragoons and gets: double six! A blunder! The stupid fools come galloping up, still in march column. No doubt when in reserve they thought the battle was progressing nicely, but now they find the front much closer than they thought! In firing, the artillery gets no hits, but the infantry shoot down some more grenadiers – sadly the regiment makes it’s save again and shrugs off the loss.

Watching from his hillock, Grenwitz orders his infantry forward and the bluecoats cross the stream, ready to close with the hedgerow last-stand. Grenwitz then orders the Dragoons screening the river to charge the Hussars on the opposite bank, just to ratchet up the pressure a little more. They get one move, which brings them to the stream’s edge. In firing, the infantry battalion completes it’s firing on the artillery battery, finally shooting down enough of the crews for the remainder to take the hint and flee, spiking whatever guns they can’t take with them. The artillery on the Aschenbach side are having a much better time, lobbing rounds into the deluded column of blundering Dragoons opposite, promptly getting a casualty and causing disorder in their ranks. The grenadiers fire away at the infantry now in the hedges, failing to get a casualty but at least causing disorder (damn all these sixes!)

Turn 7
It’s pretty much all over now. IR3 fire on the grenadiers but get no hits, thanks to needing 5+ to hit (-1 modifier from being disordered.) Aschenbach rolls on, getting the grenadiers point-blank again before the hedge. The defenders save all hits, but on their flank the infantry battalion sweeps through the wrecked battery and wheels round, flanking IR3 and the hedge. Enfilading doubles the dice rolled, and despite it’s small size the battalion inflicts 2 hits, though luckily these are saved. Grenwitz also orders his tardy Cuirassiers up although there’s barely any work for them by this point. The dragoons are ordered to charge and they splash through the stream, but thanks to the unlikely odds (Dragoons roll 8 dice compared to 6 for the Hussars, plus there are bonuses for the charging heavy cavalry in deciding who wins the combat) the dashing horsemen opposite decide not to wait for their arrival and evade, moving back out of their way. Still, the Dragoons have to stop up short in the face of this evasion, so they can’t reach the rest of the enemy army for a charge (textbook screening by the Hussars, it has to be admitted.)

At this stage the game is clearly up. Cavalry in disorder and undeployed, artillery wrecked, one infantry regiment routed and the other outflanked – this is clearly not Bitzhelm’s day. He orders a retreat and the triumphant Von Grenwitz chivalrously allows him to slip away, his job done and honour satisfied.

Book-keeping transfer

I haven't been doing any tabletop wargaming or even blog posting for a bit, down to both other wargames projects demanding attention and my desktop PC becoming deeply unstable and freezing every few minutes, forcing me into my 'lifeboat' PC of an old and battered laptop! Still, I have managed to stay active in other ways. I have recently been revamping the way I keep records of my campaigns, and thought I'd explain what I was up to.

From reading various blogs and solo-wargaming podcasts, it dawned on me that I was rather under-exploiting one of the big opportunities of a solo campaign, which is to record everything in a very detailed and colourful narrative, to re-read at leisure like a historical novel. I had a think, re-read a bit of 'Wargame Campaigns' by CS Grant and got underway!

Above is a snap of my journal, which I bought out of Asda (about £4 and pretty hefty pages, hardback cover, unlined, plus 3 pockets at the back to store loose sheets of paper.) As per Grant's sensible suggestion, I wrote out a list of all generals and units in the campaign on a strip of paper, which I then glued to the left-hand side (as you can see in the photo above) to form a fold-out 'flap' with all the units and characters listed. Now when I use each left-hand page as a ledger I don't have to write out headings for unit names and characters over and over again.

The left-hand page records each unit in three broad columns, which read left-to-right as 'at the start of the turn' then 'during the turn' and 'at the end of the turn.' Mostly this is about their physical location in the game world, so I can track armies and do the functional basics of campaign record-keeping.

The right-hand page can be used for the heart of the campaign record, in the form of a prose-style account of the turn, spiced up with the odd hand-drawn map, sketched drawing (no doubt sketched by some artistically-minded gentleman on campaign) and fictionalised quoted excerpts from the private correspondence of eye-witnesses, in the style of whatever actual historical book you prefer! A good opportunity to take advantage of is not just to discuss what happens, but what might have happened at various stages as the campaign strategies unfold. This all adds to the narrative (as well as builds up a stock of future scenario ideas, which no wargamer should be without!)

So, that's what I've been up to with my Muckenmire campaign, setting it into the new format before it truly gets going. Through it, I have recorded the setup and first two moves, which have now brought two armies within battle-fighting distance. The whole process of working backwards in my disorganised notes proved longer than I thought, but I think I'm finally sorted now! I shall post on the blog an update on the situation to fill all you on-line readers in, so you can see how it has come once again to the battlefield. Then, I hope this coming weekend to get the (small-sized) battle fought and recorded, allowing me to give the long-promised Black Powder rules set detailed example of play.

So, there you go - still enjoyable wargaming work, although of an unavoidably behind-the-scenes nature! Sadly, the system is appealing and I now find myself buying yet more of these Asda notebooks to transfer all my other campaigns into the format too! (Is there any action in this hobby which doesn't lead to yet more action required?) :-)

Casualties

I have recently received a small order I placed with 'Koenig Krieg' for something that Black Powder makes necessary - a set of casualty markers! They are lead bases, triangular in shape, with recessed numbers at each corners (perfect for BP) and a fallen figure in the middle.

I painted up a set yesterday evening and thought I'd post the results. Most BP units become 'shaken'with three hits, so these markers will remove the need for placing dice next to regiments to denote hits (which was my previous method - effective, but annoying on photos!)

I simply painted them generically for about five Aschenbach and seven Luftberg infantry. Overall the casting seems okay, although some of the arms looked a little 'elongated' compared to the body. And the set had only one pose, face-down. I believe Old Glory do a good set of 15mm casualties, but I gave up ordering them thanks to one of the most user-unfriendly webpages I've ever come across! If you feel like getting some, then I would recommend Koenig Krieg or (if you feel patient) Old Glory 15mm. The last photo, below, is the best close-up I could get. I intend to flock the bases to make them more 'grassy' but I'm quite happy with the full set being painted and effectively ready in a single day!

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.