Return to Minden-town (Game 2)

The first game having ended in a mere 20 minutes, we quickly reset and played a second game All the Kings Men with most of the same changes as before intact, but put color-downgrading back in for musketry (but movement was still free).  This arrested the casualty free-fall effect seen in the first game's few musketry exchanges, although honestly units were still running across the board too quickly and freely, which at times ruined that lovely "linear tactics" look of 18th century games (fortunately the movement bases countered that a bit).  Lesson learned is that AtKM's color downgrade system is fine as it is.

This second game went better for the Allies, although it teetered on edge of disaster.  As before the French fearlessly advanced into the face of the Hanoverian artillery and overran the guns, and as before the infantry on the Allied left faired poorly, but on the third reshuffle of the deck, the Allies hit a ridiculous run of cards, and the British, Brunswickers, and Hessians on the Allied right surged forward and broke the Grenadiers de France to steal the win.

Below: the French overrun the Allied guns for the second time.



Above and below: the game-winning push by the Allied right against the Grenadiers de France.

Return to Minden-town (Game 1)

I just re-situated my games table to the opposite corner of the basement, where it 'floats' with not one edge pushed up against a wall.  This is visually more appealing and also increases the playing-board significantly – when the table was up against a wall, one would unconsciously cede up to 12" of that part of the table because the wall was there.  We broke out the long unseen 54mm Seven Years War collection and ended up having two inaugural games (since the first game ended so quickly – see below) with this new set-up. 

The games featured only the "BMC" figures (named after sculptor Bill McMaster) since some of my cavalry units (modified HAT Napoleonic dragoons) were damaged, and I never thought they matched up very well stylistically with the BMC artillery and infantry.  So there we had it: five battalions or companies or whatever of Allied (mostly Hanoverians with some Hessians, Brunswickers, and British) infantry supported by two guns versus six units of French infantry also supported by two guns.  The paint schemes and banners are all drawn from the orders of battle for Minden in 1759.  These games were not a re-fight of the actual Minden – but Minden is its inspiration.

We used the All the Kings Men rules, but I made some changes – (1) ditched the deuce and joker card draw effects; (2) turned the King card effect into rally one unit back to green status; (3) ditched all rules for generals; (4) ditched downgrading color for anything other than taking casualties or being in melee; (5) added activation to rally and upgrade by one color level; (6) units are movement bases, so no figure removal; and (7) added simple victory conditions of automatic victory if you could get two units in contact with opposite board edge ("breaking the enemy lines"), which seemed reasonable given lack of cavalry.

Above and below: Hanoverian troops on the Allied left.

Below: fighting in the woods.

Below: the French advance begins.

Above and below: French units victorious in the center.

The lack of color downgrading meant that a good run on the card draws ended up with the French advancing clear across the field in the face of the Hanoverian artillery unscathed and knocking both out without taking a single casualty or any kind of fatigue at all! Artillery in fact was completely useless, since targeted units were always at green (so counter-rolls to cancel hits against artillery fire were always on a 4+, and since they were rolling 12 dice vs. the artillery's 8, it was a bit of a non-contest). 

The game lasted about 20 minutes and saw both Allied artillery units plus two infantry units put to flight, which equaled more than half so the entire army withdrew from the field.

Little Regiments

1. Corps Royal de l'Artillerie (France)

BMC figures. The feller hefting a cannonball is a modified figure.

2. Mordaunt's 10th Dragoons (British)

The 10th Dragoons (established 1715, veterans of the '45) were commanded by Colonel John Mordaunt, the MP for Cockermouth and proud owner of the coach of Bonnie Price Charlie, which was presented to him as a gift by the Duke of Cumberland after the British victory over the highlanders at the battle of Culloden.

These figures are my first conversions of HaT Industries Napoleonic French dragoons into Seven Years War period cavalry.  These HaT figuers have decidedly smaller heads than the many BMC/Americana infantry whom have received millliput-sculpted tricornes to replace other headgear, so the modifications by me are a bit inconsistent.  After painting the figures have been dipped in polyurethane to protect and to give them a shiny metallic look.  If I'd been more thoughtful, I would have trimmed off the epaulets on two of the figs and also trimmed off the holstered carbine on their right legs.

3. Marquis de Vogüé Cavalry (France)

This heavy calvary regiment was first established in 1665, disbanded 1668, reestablished 1671 under the comte Marcillac.  The comte de Vogüe purchased the regiment in 1734 but then sold it in 1744.  The regiment finally returned to ownership of the Vogüe house in 1759, when Charles François Eléazard, marquis de Vogüé, purchased it for his son Cerice François Melchior de Vogüé (and company within said regiment for his second son Florimont).  The regiment fought at Bergen on April 19, 1758 and was badly mauled at Minden on August 1, with Cerice François being seriously wounded and captured by the Allies.

Like my other Seven Years War cavalry this unit is made of converted HaT Industrie Napoleonic French dragoon figures.  The dragoon helmets have been cut off and replaced with tricornes fashioned from milliput.  Wish I had thought to also shave off the carbine hip holsters and some random epaulets.  The tricornes are okay but look a little too big if you look at them too closely - its tricky to get the right look as the HaT figures have rather small heads.

4. Hanoverian Artillery

As with the French artillery, BMC figures and the ones lifting shot are a modified figures - arms and cannonballs sculpted from milliput.

5. Mestre de camp Général Cavalry (France).

Second generation of modified HaT Industrie Napoleonic cavalry.  This time I trimmed off the holtered carbines and the random epaulets. I was also less shy about slightly oversized tricornes.  Mainly I remember being overjoyed to find a French cavalry unit that didn't wear white or red!

6. Prince Friedrich's Dragoons (Hesse-Kassel)

 

The other half of the second generation of HaT Napoleonic cavalry conversions. More of the same. Again, happy to find a unit wearing color I hadn't used yet.

Gohfeld

After an extended break, the 18th century collection in 54mm returned to the table last weekend.  Gabe had been busy painting three battalions (regiments? units? gangs of 12?) of Russians.  Even though they were not 100% done, Gabe wished to get them on the table, and my philosophy is THROW EVERYTHING ON THE TABLE, so we fudged it a bit and contrived a Seven Years War Franco-Russian joint operation against the Hanover-Hesse-Brunswick-Britain allied forces (pictured below at game's commencement).

Not completely fudged, however. The allied armies in western Germany were usually outnumbered so the French and Russians were given a slight numerical advantage of one extra infantry battalion.

The map was an approximation of the battle of Gohfeld during the Seven Years War.  The river at the French and Russian end of the table could only be crossed at the bridge, and at the allied end could only be forded up to one foot from the table's edge. This was our largest game to date: over 180 figures on the table!  It was also the longest one so far: almost three hours of actual game play.

Being the first game playing from the shorter ends of the table, a lot of early moves were burned up with little action as both sides approached each other.  The allies successfully screened the advance of their line infantry with skirmishers (pictured below).

Here's the two armies still maneuvering closer to each other.

French grenadiers and infantry (the bright blues and the whites) come in range of Hessian line infantry. However, the allies' skirmishers prevent direct fire between the two.

On the river's opposite bank, the Hanoverian contingent of the allied forces, along with all the allied cavalry, approach two battalions of Russians.  The cavalry would subsequently be decimated by some uncanny accurate French artillery fire.

Things start getting hot!  Below, the allied skirmishers have finally given way now that Brunswick infantry has taken position to the left of the Hessians. Not pictured is British infantry atop the small hill to the right of the Hessians. Coming through to the right of the bright blue-uniformed French Grenadiers is a French heavy cavalry charge.

Pictured below is the scene a couple of turns later - the French cavalry broke the Brunswick infantry and then proceeded on to break the last of the allied artillery.  The center Hessian infantry withstood all fire for multiple activations (til the end of the game, really).  The British, despite a superior hilltop position, flubbed every single dice roll, failing to rain cheap plastic fiery death upon their 1/32 scale French assailants, and also getting handily chopped up by French return fire.  On the opposite bank, Hanoverian infantry was effectively handling the Russians.

Despite their numerical advantage the French and Russians were the first to take a break test (from losing at least half of their starting units).  However, they made this roll successfully.  When it was my turn to take my first break test I once again totally flubbed the throw and the game was over.

Hastenbeck (or something like it)

The goal in setting up this Seven Years War game in 54mm scale (again using the All the Kings Men ruleset) was to minimize or better control the effect of terrain on the gameplay.  The previous playtests had used an I-go-you-go system of randomized terrain placement (I place a hill, you place a river, I place a forest, you place a house, etc) that resulted in cluttered playing fields and games which relied heavily on artillery duels.  The result was that G___ and I decided to agree on terrain placement ahead of time.  I web-researched some historical battles and presented him with two options in the form of hand-drawn maps: Hastenbeck in 1757 and Lutterberg in 1758.  He chose Hastenbeck.

The map for Hastenbeck was simply rendered by me as allowing for the French to deploy along one full side of the table, while the Allies deployed in a more constricted, off-center stretch of the opposite side (however the Allied left was guarded by heavy woods).  As a bonus, we each took a copy of the map and drew out our initial placements.  I was Allies again, and tried to deploy mainly in a nice defensive line with the rest of the force piled up in column ready to advance on the left next to the woods.  

This was the first "large" game, 10 units total on each side, and the first to feature skirmisher units.  Needless to say, the prearranged map and the total blind deployment resulted in period-appropriate long and dense battlelines at start the game (as hoped for).

After the first few moves, the Allied right's artillery had succeeded in driving the French Mestre de camp Général Cavalerie from the field with some incredible good dice throws. Meanwhile the French began advancing along the edge of the scrubby light woods (no movement detriment but capable of obstructing line of sight for fire attachs) which protected the Allies' left flank.

Skirmisher firefights and cavalry charges and counter-charges then ensued in the light woods on the Allied left.  The end results were that dismounted French Schomberg dragoons (light troops) held the woods, but the remaining French cavalry had been driven from the field, as had the Allied jaegers (light troops) and Hessian mounted dragoons.  The British 12th Foot regiment was taking fire from the French Rouergue and Acquitaine regiments.

The British 12th breaks in the face of French musketry.  The Allies try to pivot their right over to compensate.  At a key moment Hanoverian foot artillery is manhandled into canister-shot range of the Acquitaine infantrie!  12 dice instead of 8 for the artillery attack!

Bad dice strike!  The French weather the grapeshot like it was a summer breeze!  A follow-up volley from von Reden's Hanoverian infantry is likewise uneffective.  The intention of these volleys was to soften up Acquitaine for a devastating charge from the British dragoons still standing by in column by the woods. This charge never precipated...

A Hanoverian artillery unit is destroyed by French musketry and von Hardenberg's Hanoverian regiment is also broken.  The Allies have lost half their starting units and so the retreat is sounded.

Bad dice aside, G___ gets credit for deciding on a overall plan of attach based on his initial deployment, and for sticking with it.  I get discredit for (as usual) letting more fragile units (artillery, skirmishers, and cavalry) take all the risks while letting the infantry linger too long.

All in all an enjoyable evening, not the least because it looked and felt right historically, as well as being engaging.  The pre-agreed terrain was a boon and the largest fielded armies to date gave things an epic feel.  Artillery was nominal - the French barely fired a shot the whole game but won rather handily anyways.