End of Year Gaming

I haven't  posted for the last couple of months.   During that time I have participated in a several games,  run a couple at the conquest Avalon convention and painted some additional items.

At Conquest Avalon I spent Saturday gaming, taking part in a French and Indian War game using Rank and File which ended in a draw,  a Ridiculous Vanity game where my king charged the opposing commander and due to an extremely unlucky set of die rolls ended up dying,  and a KISS Rommel game commanding the British at Toburk.    The British were overrun.  On Sunday I ran a Franco-Prussian War game using 1871 rules.   This was two Prussian line corps vs a French four division corps which was a draw.

I also ran a Franco-Prussian war game at the Miniature Wargaming Society of Sacramento using Bloody Big Battles this was Prussian victory.  Of the two rule sets 1871 played better, but was not that satisfying a game.   I will be trying Rank and File for a Franco-Prussian War game in 2020.

After trying KISS Rommel, I went looking for a better set of rules for large scale battles.  I found the turn sequence for KISS Rommel which had the moving side doing all the firing with no return fire from the defending side to allow one side to gain a distinct advantage.  The Tobruk game used a die roll for initiative.   On one turn the Germans chose to move second, moved up to range and attacked the British causing a few casualties and removing some of the defensive works and mine fields.  On the following turn they again won the initiative, moved first this time and took out more of the defenders, while breaking through the defenses.   At this point there were not enough British left to stem the German tide.

The last game of the year was a fictional lace wars game set in H. Beam Piper's Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen universe.   I again commanded the Ilter army.   The scenario was from the Wargame scenario book.   We got to choose seven units from the list of forces available,  I choose a heavy cavalry unit, five infantry units, and the two artillery piece unit.   The opposing side chose the two artillery piece unit and six infantry units one of which was light infantry.   Both sides got to designate one of their units as veteran and would use a die roll to determine which of the other units was raw.   I choose on of the infantry units to be veteran as did our opponents.  Both sides die rolls resulted in one of the other infantry units being raw.   Both sides had two subordinate commanders.  One of them was aggressive and the other was not willing to follow orders.   I did not know what they were like as Mike, the gamemaster told them in private prior to the start of the game.

We started the game in road column with one unit on the table and the rest following behind.  Fortunately my aggressive commanders units were the second command in the column and my insubordinate commander was the last in line.   I lead with the heavy cavalry, followed by the grenadiers.   The other two commands had two infantry units and one of the two guns.

We won initiative for the first turn and my cavalry quickly headed down the road and turned left at the junction.  The Grenadiers and the next command followed.   The third command headed off the road to the right to secure our right flank.

On the second turn my cavalry moved into position to threaten the flank of the lead two infantry battalions.  The opposing side had occupied the village with another of their infantry units, had another marching behind the village and woods to their right flank, had the two guns occupy a hill to the left of the village and had the other two infantry in front of the guns.   My grenadiers move up to the central inn at the junction.  The second command deployed the gun to the right of the inn and moved up the infantry just to the left of the grenadiers with the lead battalion on the hill.  The third command move up and deployed its gun and infantry on the right on the following turn. Due to their guns being deployed back on the hill they were firing at long range while ours were firing at intermediate range with twice the effectiveness of theirs.

On the third turn the enemy's lead battalion charged my grenadiers.   The fire from my grenadiers was not enough to halt the charge and a bloody fight ensued for control of the inn.  Both sides lost half their men and my grenadiers were forced back.  Meanwhile my cavalry charged the second battalion of infantry and routed it.   On the following turn the cavalry again charged causing that unit to run further and then hitting the enemy grenadiers in the flank routing them.    Over the course of four turns Princess Gwendolyn's regiment of horse would engage in the two charges and come under fire multiple times from the enemy's infantry.  They were able to extricate themselves from that situation and move to the left flank of our aggressive commander's infantry with only one of six bases having been lost.

Our aggressive commander had regained control of the inn and the survivors of the grenadier battalion moved up to occupy it.  While all this was happening our right flank and guns had been engaging  in a fire fight with their opposites.

The enemy's aggressive commander was the one opposing ours.   One of his infantry units charged ours on the hill and was thrown back.  This set up the situation where our infantry unit and the heavy cavalry would be able to make a joint charge into the unit that had been thrown back.  Our artillery and musket fire caused one of the infantry units in the center of their line to loose over half its men and rout.   One of our gun crews had been driven from their guns by the enemy artillery, but was able to return to their gun the next turn. Our right flank command had taken some losses during the exchange of musket and artillery fire.

At this point the game was called  as a victory for our side.  with three of the opposing infantry units having fled the battle.   Our grenadiers were at half strength and only good for occupying the inn or defending.   One unit of infantry on both sides were still at full strength.   All the other infantry on both sides had taken casualties, but were still effective.  With the game called we were not able to make the combined cavalry and infantry charge we had set up.   A lucky result for us would have seen a fourth enemy unit routed and destroyed.  

The following pictures were taken by Mike, our game master.

 End of the first turn.  My cavalry on the road at the bottom.

 Turn three charges by our cavalry and their infantry at the inn in the middle

 Turn four the cavalry continues charging into the flank of the opposing grenadiers.

 Another view of turn four.

 End of game our cavalry and infantry are preparing to charge.

 End of game from behind the other army

.End of game.   Our army is on the left and the other is on the right.  The unit at the bottom of the picture is their grenadiers who had recovered from being broken by our cavlary.  Our right flank had fallen back due to casualties, but was still in good order.  Their guns are on the hill at the bottom right and their other two infantry units are to the right center with one on the road and the other at the base of the hill.  The unit on the road would have taken fire from both our guns, the grenadiers and the second line of infantry on the hill for a total of 12 dice  while the cavalry and the first line would have charged the unit at the base of the hill.  While it was not guaranteed there was the chance that both of those units would have broken.

Franco-Prussian War Project Part Seven

I finished painting and basing all the baggage wagons and limbers and I am in the process of adding the flags I printed to both armies.   The Prussians have been finished and the French are about one-third completed.   This will be finished this weekend, leaving only flocking the bases as I have time.  The armies will have their first outing at the South Bay Gaming Club meeting on the second weekend of October.

I used some flags I found on the Warflag website and others from the L'Armee de Napoleon III book.  Paintshop Pro is the graphics program I used to reduce them to the proper size for the figures.    This program allows me to keep the detail of the flags as they are reduced in size.  As an example of how this is done I will use an original image that is 25mm from the bottom of the flag to the top and has a resolution of 72 dots per inch.  It will be reduced to a height of 5mm which is one-fifth of the original.   In order to keep the detail from becoming blurred I multiply the dots per inch by a factor of five, which is the reciprocal of one-fifth, resulting in a resolution of 360 dots per inch.

After reducing and saving them to a folder on my computer, I then copied them into a word document.   The images were copied as many times as needed with some extras.   After cutting them out they were folded and glued to the cast flags of the figures.

Below are pictures of the printed flags.   These are all about 5mm tall.  The first picture shows almost the entire set of printed flags.   All German flags are from the Warflag website. From top to bottom there is Bavaria, Saxony, Baden, Wurtemberg, Hesse, Prussian cavalry, Prussian infantry,   French flags from Warflag,  and French flags from the L'Armee book.  I kept the guard flags separate from the others at the bottom

The next two images are closeups that I hope show the detail of the flags.

Franco-Prussian War project part six

Finished painting and basing the French line cavalry yesterday.   I ended up with more than I had originally intended to.   While I was doing the Germans I realized that I had forgotten to include the army reserve artillery.  I also found a few more figures in my collection that I had previously missed.  Fortunately I came across an Ebay listing for 13 packs of French infantry, cavalry and artillery and was able to win them at the minimum bid price.  This, with shipping, was still less than purchasing the additional infantry and guns that I needed.  The additional cavalry also allowed me to put six figures on each cavalry base instead of the five that I would have had to do previously.  I still ended up with eight more units of cavalry than I had planned.

The entire French army now consists of the Guard Corps and ten infantry divisions in three line corps.   There is a cavalry division in each of the corps and enough for the three reserve cavalry divisions.  The purchase also allowed me to replace the ACW Zouaves that I was using for the guard Zouaves.

The additional figures I came across in my collection also added enough to increase the Prussian infantry divisions to seven.   I will eventually purchase some additional infantry and guns to add an eighth infantry division making three Prussian line infantry corps, the Prussian Guard corps, a Bavarian corps, and two reserve cavalry divisions..  This will be just about enough to do Mars-la-Tour.  

The picture below has the cuirassiers, chasseurs and hussars in the left column from front to back and the dragoons and lancers in the right column.  In 1868 new uniform regulations were issued for the line cavalry.   The dragoons would keep their helmets, but would be changing their green tunic for a dark blue one.   The lancers, hussars, and chasseurs would all exchange their head gear for red kepis.   The Hussars and chasseurs would exchange their traditional uniforms for a blue tunic that was lighter than the dragoons and cuirassiers.   This change was only partially implemented by 1870.   Le Armee de Napoleon III shows all kinds of combinations of uniform pieces in the various cavalry regiments.  Hussar regiments are shown in their traditional uniform colors with both the red kepi and their original head wear.   I decided to paint the chasseurs and dragoons in a mix of units that have some in their new uniforms and some in their old uniforms.   One regiment of lancers has the red kepi.  The figures are actually Rush's lancers from the ACW range that I had spares of.

This only leaves limbers, wagons, and generals to finish painting and flags to add to the units.

Franco-Prussian War Part Five

Finished the French infantry.   Still have the French cavalry and Generals and the baggage to complete.   Below are the final five divisions consisting of a total of 960 infantry.   Troops are based on 1.5 inch by .75 inch bases (38mmx19mm) with 16 figures per base.   These are for the 1871 rules where each base represents a battalion.  All figures are Heroics and Ros.

Franco-Prussian War Project Part 4

Completed the French Imperial Guard, all the foot chasseur battalions and the artillery.   This was 72 cavalry, 380  infantry, five artillery pieces, 2 miraellueses, and 33 gunners for the guard.  112 chasseurs, 30 guns and 10 mitrrailleuses, and 188 gunners for the line.

I still have about 1000 French infantry, along with the French line cavalry, and wagons to finish.  The French cavalry takes longer to paint than the Germans due to additional colors and items to paint along with reversed colors for the musicians.

The photo below is the guard and chasseur battalions.   Voltigeur division at the top, Grenadier and Zouave division next, and the cavalry division at the bottom.  The chasseurs are at the top right and the guard corps artillery reserve is below.

Franco Prussian War Project Part Two

I finished painting the Prussian Army this week.   Items painted this week were 100+ jagers, 336 cavalry, 210 artillery men, 34 artillery pieces, 21 6 horse limber and gun teams, 37 generals and aides, and a few spares.   Additional work to do is printing and attaching flags and flocking the bases.  Next week I will be starting on the French.  The picture below is most of the figures deployed as the Prussian First Army in 1870 with the Guard Corps substituting for one of the infantry corps and one of the two cavalry divisions.   From left to right Guard Corps with two infantry divisions, corps artillery, and one cavalry division.  The other two corps are the standard Prussian infantry corps of two infantry divisions, two cavalry regiments, a jager battalion, and corps artillery.   The Cavalry division has two cuirassier regiments, four uhlan regiments, and one artillery battery.

2mm Franco Prussian War

I started painting the 2mm figures that my friend Gary is 3d printing for me.  I still have some way to go before I finish painting the first batch.   As an experiment I used a Paint Shop Pro to reduce an image of the Prussian battle flag to fit on the flags of one of the infantry strips.

After priming the strip with grey spray primer, I painted the ground around the base with camo green to match the artist mat board that I will be using for a base.  Next I painted the top part of the figures Prussian blue.   I could have added black to the top of the figures, but decided that the Prussian blue was dark enough for the helmets.   I did not try to paint the faces.   The last color was equine white for the flags followed by gluing the reduced battle flag to the figure strip.  I took the picture with my cell phone and it is a bit out of focus.  Next time I will use my camera's macro setting with better lighting for a clearer picture.

The Prussian battle flag is white with an eagle in the center.   From what I have read the Prussian infantry did not carry their flags into battle, but that is the way the figure strip is.   The two images below are the original image and the reduced image.   The original is actually 0.9 inches tall while the reduced image is 0.135 inches tall.   As can be seen the graphics program will keep the same amount of detail and resolution when reducing an image if the dots per inch is proportionally increased.  The only other limitation is the maximum dots per inch that the printer can produce.   Most current household printers can print high resolution photographs or other images.

Bloody Big Battles Return to Coulmiers

Fought the Battle off Courmiers this past weekend Gary hosted the game at The Launchpad game shop in Lodi.   I commanded the Bavarians again because George had to take care of some business items and arrived late.   I again deployed one of the commands in the village to the front in order to prevent the French from being able to start twelve inches in instead of starting from their edge of the table 

Bavarians deployed 

Except for his artillery George had better luck than Mike had in the previous game with his movement dice.  His artillery failed to move during the first turn and did not arrive until the second turn.  Throughout the game George did very well with his movement rolls for the cavalry and infantry.   His infantry advanced quickly and moved towards the main objective town that had two objective markers.

Turn 2.   Bavarian cavalry has advanced to counter the French cavalry on the right as the French infantry advances to the left.  All my formations near the town are out of ammo.

This time I withdrew my infantry from the forward position immediately and was able to get them into position next to the main objective town by the second turn.  My artillery fire over the first few turns disrupted several of George's infantry units slowing their advance in the center.   As his infantry approached he objective town devastating fire from my troops destroyed several of his infantry formations.  George was also able to bring some devastating fire against my infantry unit to the left of the town.   In the previous game this unit drove back attacks from at least four French units over the course of a couple of turns.   It was not the case this time as they broke and ran never to recover.  

Between George and myself we had three or four out of ammo rolls.  Out of ammo rolls happen when you roll 11 or 12 on the firing table.   You will cause a lot of casualties, but every unit that fired will be out of ammo until it does what is needed to recover.   Artillery does not fire for one phase and infantry must be out of small arms fire.   I did have to pull the infantry unit in the town back far enough to recover, but all the other units were able to recover almost immediately without having to move.   George was not as fortunate and had to pull several infantry formations back to recover.

One French unit has been destroyed in the center of the field while both sides firing has resulted in them being out of ammo (black markers).   My unit at the bottom center of the picture would soon rout.

On the left my infantry in the village was able to destroy the only French infantry unit advancing towards it.  I did pull that unit back on the fourth turn to keep it from being overrun by possible French re-enforcements that might arrive near it on turn five.  Both George and I failed to gain any re-enforcements when we rolled for them.

End of turn four.  More French infantry has been destroyed along with my formation that routed.   Both sides are trying to recover from out of ammo, while my infantry on the left has pulled back from the objective village.

On my right my two cavalry brigades had advanced to engage the French cavalry.   This resulted in a couple of turns of inconclusive results with both sides being disrupted, then recovering and charging into the other side while they were still disrupted.   This time no French infantry moved to intervene in the cavalry combat and I was finally able to roll high enough to rout the French cavalry and exploit forward.   On the following turn I moved one of my two cavalry brigades to the rear of the French army while the other moved to their left flank.   George attempted to halt the move by the cavalry to his rear with fire from his machine guns and an artillery unit, but rolled no effect.

End of turn five,  One of my cavalry brigades is now in the rear of the French on the edge of the table while the other is just out of the picture to the left flank of the French infantry at the top center. 

It was now the start of turn six.   Three French infantry units had been reduced to one stand or less along with the cavalry.   My left flank infantry was about to move back to the objective village on that side to prevent the French from occupying it.   My artillery and infantry at the objective town was currently out of ammo, but the French could not muster enough units to successfully attack it on that turn.   The French were also vulnerable to flank or rear attacks from my cavalry and were not likely to gain control of any objectives other than the main town that was worth two if my defensive fire was not able to halt any attacks on turn six or seven.   My artillery would have recovered from low ammo during my part of turn six and could still fire defensively if attacked on the French part of that turn.

At this point we called the game with French losses at 12000 infantry and 3000 cavalry to 4000 Bavarian infantry.   The Bavarians had been the last to pass through or hold seven of the objectives.   Other than the one infantry formation routing  and my cavalry exceeding what I had hoped for everything had gone to plan.

The previous battle can be found at  Courmiers

Bloody Big Battles

Played a Franco-Prussian War game at the Miniature Wargaming Society of Sacramento meeting yesterday with Gary Bitters 2mm figures.   The rules were Bloody Big Battles.   Each unit represents 1000 infantry or cavalry or 24 guns.  

The battle was Coulmiers, fought on November 9th 1870 between the French and the Bavarians.   This was one of the few battles that the French won during the war.    The scenario is an extra one that is available for free on the Bloody Big Battles Yahoo group.   The Bavarians are outnumbered almost 2:1, but have much better quality troops than the French.

In order to win the French must capture at least five of the seven objectives on the table.   The Bavarians have the option of deploying one of their formations forward of their main position in one of two villages.   Not doing so allows the French to deploy 12 inches in from their starting edge instead of starting at the edge of the table.   There is also the possibility that one or both sides might receive one of two re-enforcements on turn five.   The scenario has a seven turn limit.

Mike O'Brien chose the French and I commanded the Bavarians.   I chose to deploy one of my units in the village in front of the main objective town, which was worth two objectives if the French captured it.    By deploying the one unit forward the French were forced  to spend at least their first turn attempting to reach the point where they would have started otherwise.


View of the table from the north edge.   White dots are objectives, tan squares are villages, grey squares are towns.


View from the French starting edge.

Movement is variable, based on a die roll and modifiers for formation, etc.   Mike was plagued by bad movement die rolls throughout the game.   The formations advancing through the central part of the table took at least three to move the first twelve inches onto the table.   Mike's right flank was able to advance fairly quickly while this was happening.   My forward formation was able to fire on one of his units advancing in the center disrupting it and halting its advance for a couple of turns.


View from my side of the table.   My units are deployed with the forward formation in the village near the top center with earthworks.

Mike decided to take a chance and charged his cavalry unit into my forward formation.   He was able to charge it from an angle that prevented defensive fire.   Though the village did provide a combat bonus, my poor die roll combined with Mike's good roll saw my forward infantry formation driven from the village with losses.   My original plan was to only hold the village for one turn and then withdraw back to my main line at the objective town.   However,   I choose to remain their longer as Mike's movement rolls had kept them from being pressured and they were to halt the advance of other units.   Having been driven back a full move by the French charge, my movement die roll saw the formation recover and move back to where I wanted them in one move instead of two.

Mike continued his advance at this point though poor movement die rolls and disrupting fire from my artillery continued to slow his advance.   I made the mistake of deciding to move my cavalry from my right to help delay the advancing French on my left instead of moving them further forward on the my right to engage the French cavalry and try and turn the French left.   This delayed them two turns as they returned to position.   Mike had advanced his cavalry, but a poor movement die roll on the next turn left them frozen in place and vulnerable to a flank attack by my cavalry.   I was able to score full moves with both units and charged the French cavalry in the flank.   What should have been a victory for my horse turned into a draw due to a low score on my die and a high one on Mikes,  Mike was unable to recover from disruption on his following turn and on my turn my cavalry recovered and again charged into Mike's  only to see another drawn combat.  (Note: this was the type of combat result, not an actual tied die score),  This left my disrupted cavalry vulnerable to a combined charge from the French cavalry to the front, who had recovered and a flanking attack from the French infantry which had taken the first five turns of the game to advance a little over 12 inches from their edge.  (That unit had several no movement die rolls)  The attack saw my cavalry destroyed one unit at a time as the first attack enabled the French to exploit their victory.    

Meanwhile, the right flank French had been able to finally cross the stream and drive my left most unit from the objective village on that side.   That unit destroyed on the next turn by four times its number of French infantry.   On turn five Mike's roll for re-enforcements saw the arrival of several French infantry units on that side which were able to start just six inches from my units.   Fortunately, I was able to pivot my infantry unit on my left center to face the advancing French.    That unit was able to throw back several attacks.

My re-enforcement die roll gave me an infantry formation that arrived in my center rear.   this unit was able to keep the French from gaining the woods objective on the left rear of my edge.   My formation in the objective town was unable to prevent the French from charging it due to a poor firing die roll, but the melee combat saw the French thrown back with losses.  Shooting from that formation had already disrupted and damaged several formations of French infantry rendering them ineffective.


End of turn five.   My re-enforcing infantry has arrived on the road at the bottom center.   The French re-enforcements have advanced on my left flank and my left center unit has pivoted to face them.   Their fire along with the artillery next to the woods and road has disrupted the French (yellow markers).   At the right center my cavalry will soon be attacked by the French cavalry to its front and the infantry to its left rear.

It was now the final turn of the game.   The French had only gained one objective at this point.   They had two units that were within a move of two objectives on my right and had several units that might have been able to possibly advance far enough to engage the infantry unit that I had holding the woods.    While the infantry unit on my right was able to make a full move, the French cavalry once again balked at moving and remained where they were.   The French infantry on my left were unable to advance far enough due to bad die rolls and defensive fire from my artillery and infantry on that flank.

Final positions.   My left flank infantry is disrupted, but is still holding and its fire along with the artillery has halted the French on my left.   In the center are multiple damaged and disrupted French infantry formations.  The big white die is the turn indicator.   To its right are the French infantry and cavalry that destroyed mine.   The Bavarian infantry formation that had held the forward village is in the village to the right of the town.   There is a possibility that if your movement die scores high enough that you can recover lost stands.   However, I was never able to roll high enough for that unit to recover its loss, while Mike did make one roll that was high enough to recover one lost stand.

Final score for the battle was 4000 cavalry and 3000 infantry lost by the Bavarians and about 8000 infantry( I didn't take a count of their losses) lost by the French and only two objectives captured out of seven on the table.   A victory for the Bavarians.

Update - I enjoyed playing the rules and will take part in Gary's next game.