Isted (or something like it)

Fresh on their defeat in the Sweipwald Woods, the Imperial army received intelligence that the Allies were encamped at the town of Isted.  This game is premised on the battle of Isted (1850) during the first Schleswig War of 1848-51 between Denmark and its rebellious, German-majority Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein.  The Imperials (red, commanded by me) are taking the Danes and the Allies (blue) the Duchies (commanded by Pete).  This was also a first try of a mix of the Charge! rules with a few parts of the Men Who Would Be Kings rules, but played on a grid. The Charge! parentage included no activation roles, a move and shoot action with only a half-movement penalty, and units under half strength retreating two full moves then only being capable of firing and defending. From TMWWBK came the shooting and melee dice mechanics.  Movement rates were based on those from Charge!  

Imperial infantry deployed from the NE

A larger Imperial army (6 infantry, 3 cavalry, 2 guns) has launched a pincer attack on the town of Isted, where the smaller Allied army (5 infantry, 2 cavalry, 2 guns) is encamped.  Two allied infantry units (Gurkas and the Westminsters) and a gun began the game in or near Isted, with the remainder at the table's edge directly south.  Three allied units began off table and would come on board in turn 2.  The Imperial army had 3 cavalry units, after a long night's ride, coming on board from the NW corner, 1 on turn 1, with the other two coming on board on turns 2 and 3.  The infantry began in NE corner, with about have coming on in turn 2. The off board starting positions were to keep the starting board a little less cluttered.

Allies move to defend Isted.

The Imperial cavalry came on board bit by bit but massed in the NW and kept out of rifle range.  The Imperial infantry advanced in waves towards Isted, supported by artillery fire.  

Allies in Isted, with additional forces advancing to the SE.

With the Gurkas and Westminsters infantry firmly ensconced in the houses of Isted, the Allies made a perhaps unwise decision to throw the Horse Guard, supported by Zouave and Bulgarian infantry, across the open ground at the advancing Imperial infantry.  Since Charge! allows closing fire, the Horse Guard charge dispatched the Irish Guard infantry but the Horse Guard was destroyed as well. 

Imperial line infantry and fusiliers lay heavy fire into the Allied Gurka infantry.

The Zouaves and Bulgarians exchanged fire with the Welch Fusiliers and Scot Light Infantry but did not markedly slow either.  Meanwhile, the Fusiliers and Imperial line infantry poured steady fire into the Gurkas in Isted, while the Bombay infantry slowly moved to the north approach to the town from the safety behind them.

Allied Zouaves and Bulgarian infantry attack from SE (upper left).

With the Imperial infantry advance going well, the Empire made a dire decision, which was to commit its now superior cavalry (3 squadrons vs. the lone allied unit of lancers). 

Imperial cavalry begins its advance from the west.

The reason for this was that the Gurka infantry had fallen back from its position in Isted, which meant that the Imperial assault on the town would begin in full in a turn or two. 

The Allied Gurkas have fallen back from heavy fire.

Imperial advance upon Isted.

The Imperial cavalry quickly skirted around to the SW side of Isted, perhaps too aggressively, as they were exposed to heavy fire from the Westminsters in the town as well artillery and infantry fire south the town.

Cavalry battle on eastern outskirt of Isted.

Bulgarians are moved further upon Imperial flank...

The result was that while the outnumbered Allied lancers were easily dispatched, the entirety of the Imperial cavalry took heavy fire and withdrew in disarray.  These heavy losses (15 figures!) pushed the Imperial army over 50% casualties, even though they had Allies on ropes (the allies were only a few figures removed from 50% themselves), with the Zouaves and Gurkas understrength and the Bulgarians under heavy fire from Imperial artillery. 

...which exposes them to heavy artillery fire, sending them into retreat.

Imperial Scots Light Infantry has secured part of Isted.

The over-aggressive charge of the Imperial cavalry thus cost the Empire the win. Another turn of steady rifle and artillery fire would have probably won the town for the Imperial red.

End game.

Streets of Isted.

The hybrid/mutant Charge!/Men Who Would Be Kings ("Charge Kings"?) rules were fast and refreshing with their absence of dice rolls for activations and morale.  Players made their moves and had to live with the consequences, as seen in the foolhardy committal of the Imperial cavalry, which had previously been doing a fine job of simply being a threat to the Allied left.  They need a little codification, as they are current simply the two rule books and one page of notes. The slowed rate of casualties from shooting (as set forth in prior games using TMWWBK) continues to give the correct feel of a slow trickle of casualties, unless several units are able to concentrate fire in which case an also correct feel is achieved.  Cavalry is extremely weak against rifle fire, which is correct from a late 19th century perspective, but makes their presence on the table a little hard to justify. 

Swiepwald Woods (or something like it)

This gridded Men Who Would Be Kings game is loosely based on the clash in the Sweip woods during the larger battle of Koniggratz on July 3, 1866 (part of the Austro-Prussian War).  For this game, the Imperial forces (army red) took the part of the Prussians and the Allies (army blue-green) played the role of the Austrians.

Imperial troops in starting positions at back of the Swiep woods.

The Empire's troops, consisting of six infantry units and a single cavalry unit (Life Guards), started massed at the edge of the woods.  They would attain an instant victory if at any point in the game there was not a single Allied unit on the wooded side of the board. 

Empire troops advance into the woods.  Alllied Zouaves are spotted ahead!

The Allies began the game with seven infantry units and two guns.  The gun batteries are deployed on hills overlooking the woods.  Two allied units began the game on the edge of the Swiepwald.  The rest of the Allied foot begin at the hills by the guns, ready to advance into the woods. 

View from the Allied starting positions.

This game used the gridded variant of The Men Who Would Be Kings that I have had good experience with.  What was different this time around was all units had a more modest command rating of 7+ and movement was allowed into woods (1 square/turn) and woods conferred a defensive bonus to shooting (but not melee), requiring one addition hit to cause a casualty.  This meant that long ranged shooting attacks required 4 hits to remove one figure.

Imperial left moves into the wood.

Guards in the wood.

An Imperial unit consisting of Black Watch and Irish Guards were able to move into a key copse of heavier woods in the center of the board early on.  They quickly game under heavy fire from the Allied guns as well as the Queen's Westminsters, Gurkas, and Bombays.

The Black Watch/Irish Guards can be seen in action at the top.

On the Imperial right, line infantry and highlander units poured rifle fire into Allied Marines and Zouaves. A key third Imperial unit on the right, the Madras infantry, was driven back by Allied artillery, or constantly pinned by that same artillery, which caused the firefight with the Marines and Zouaves to drag on.

Black Watch in the wood still taking heavy fire from the Westminsters, and also being flanked by Allied Bulgarian infantry.

Allied artillery, on Allied left, looking towards the Imperial Madras infantry.

Artillery of the Allied right, looking towards its own advancing infantry, left-to-right, the Gurkas, Westminsters, Bulgarians, combined Rifles, and Bombays.

Zouaves have retreated from the Swiep.  Marines take their place.

Since this variant of Men Who Would Be Kings requires two hits to remove a figure at close range and three at long, which was typically increased to three at short and four at long because the target was in the soft cover of the woods, the majority of this game was a very slow trickle of a unit losing one figure and then being pinned or not pinned, and if pinned, perhaps falling back.  The Imperials had the poorer morale this time, and while the Imperial right plugged away against the Zouaves and Marines, the left was slowly but steadily pushed back into the wood.

Imperials line infantry exchanges fire with Allied rifle units.

Imperials highlanders exchange fire with Allied marines.

Gurka infantry can be seen withdrawing at right edge.

In a bit of a stroke of luck, the Allied Gurka infantry became pinned and subsequently failed multiple Rally tests and ended up retreating right out of the battle!

The Imperial Black Watch at the center, however, was finally destroyed by Allied fire, and the Westminsters (who had not taken a single casualty yet) took their place in the copse.

The Allies' Westminsters in the copse, having defeated the Black Watch.

Shortly after, the Imperial right finished off the Zouaves and a charge by the highlanders sent the Marines packing.  So the Imperials were victorious on the right but the situation on the left was dire.

Imperial highlanders after having defeated the Royal Marines of the Allies.

The Imperial right, now just a Guards unit and a Line unit, briefly rallied and advanced back into the woods.  

The Guards advancing on the Bombays.

The Westminsters and Allied artillery having routed the Imperial Madras infantry, the highlanders and line infantry from the Imperial right attempted to swing over and aid the left.  The Imperial cavalry (life Guards), held so long in reserve, also made a flanking hook and engaged the Allied rifle units, hoping to win a melee and gain a sweeping advance (a la Charge of the Miracle Brigade). But unfortunately it scored but a single casualty on the rifles and the rifles managed one as well.  In the resulting tie the Life Guards became pinned, and were subsequently shot to pieces.  In short order, the Imperial Guards also broke, and the Allied Bulgarians charged the Imperial infantry who had become pinned (so half dice for melee) and pushed them back to the table edge.

Bulgarians have chased off the Imperial line infantry, securing half the woods in the process.

At this point the Imperials conceded the game, seeing as they had but two dependable units left and were roughly outnumbered 2-to-1.

The key turning point in the game was agreed to be when the Allied artillery scored an improbable two hits on the Madras infantry, pinning them, and then they fell back from failed Rally actions.  This left the Black Watch/Irish Guards unit unsupported in the Imperial forward center.   The Black Watch was constantly pinned from the combined fire of three Allied units.  The rest of the Imperial left failed to come up fast enough to draw off the Allied destruction of the Black Watch, so when the Imperial left did finally advance it was outnumbered and facing fresh, undamaged Allied troops.  Everything after that was triage.

Both sides should have probably risked melee charges more often, seeing as defensive benefits of cover were removed for melee and one hit equals one figure removed.  The game took about an hour and a half but should have probably been an hour.

Both the Imperial Black Watch and the Madras infantry died to the last man, which seems silly.  Might try a simple Little Wars prisoner mechanic where if a unit is outnumbered two to one and is charged in melee the outnumbered unit simply surrenders in full. The attacking unit lose 1 figure to represent prisoner guards, but no dice are rolled to there is no risk to the attacker and they have eliminated an enemy unit so the calculated loss is acceptable.  An exception might be if the outnumbered unit is in a house or similar hard cover defense in which case they might fight it out?

The Empire should receive some additional red coated reinforcements in the mail on Monday. Its a bit tricky putting their forces together at the moment as they can barely field five infantry units.  Looking forward to using this model of scenario inspiration going forward, basing games on little parts of bigger historical battles but substituting the fictional/stylized Allies and Empire into each game.