Belle Epoque Battle Maker

Having now played two games of the shiny toy soldier variety, featuring a French army of the Third Republic against a British army one of Guard, Line, and Volunteer Rifle units, a rudimentary but satisfactory "Belle Epoque" battle-maker toolkit has emerged.  This toolkit is based on and evolved from my earlier Italian Wars and English Civil War battle-makers.  

Because warfare by the later 19th century had become very non-linear (in the old Napoleonic sense) and very infantry- and artillery-centric (cavalry falling to the wayside as scouts, despite much wishful thinking to the contrary), both the terrain-tiles and the random deployment components needed to change.  Variation in deployment thus becomes more central, while force composition becomes less dynamic/variable (forces are mainly infantry and artillery, with small variations for elite status).

I.  FORCE COMPOSITION

Each side rolls on the following tables to generate the forces for the game.  Obviously, these are constrained by the figures you have available put on the table. Currently I cannot run the large battles (not enough artillery crew, would have to stretch infantry to capacity).  But generally speaking, the idea is to figure out what is the largest duplicate armies you could table for each side (x), then create a dice system that will randomize out x-1 and x-2.  After the main feature, perhaps, is to determine the presence of elite units. This is done by counting a certain number of units as regular, then counting one as elite, then starting over. The number of regular units counted is determined by a 1d3+1. For example, if you have five infantry, and you roll 1d3+1 for a result of 2, then 2 of your 5 infantry will be regular, then 1 elite, then 2 more regular.  If you had eight infantry and rolled a 2, you would end up with 6 regular and 2 elite (2-1-2-1).

SMALL BATTLE:

French: 
1d3+3 infantry (then roll a 1d3+1, with the result being x - after x regular infantry, then 1 elite. Example: you roll 1d3+3 and get a total of 5 infantry. Then you roll 1d3+1 for a result of 2.  2 of your 5 infantry will be regular, then 1 elite, then 2 more regular. For ease of reference the French player designates his zouaves as the elites)
1d3-2 machine guns
1d3-2 artillery

British:
1d3+3 infantry (then roll a 1d3+1, with the result being x - after x regular infantry, then 1 elite)
1d3-2 machine guns
1d3-2 artillery

Notes: The concept is 4-6 infantry per side (with at least one veteran/elite unit) possibly supported by a machine gun or an artillery piece. Elite troops could be better trained, veterans, or especially well led units.  French could use zouaves and/or chasseurs alpin for easy-to-recognize elites. British could use Guard or Highland units.

MEDIUM BATTLE:

French: 
1d3+5 infantry (roll a 1d3+1, with the result being x - after x regular infantry, then 1 elite)
1d3-1 machine guns
1d3-1 artillery

British:
1d3+5 infantry 
1d3-1 machine guns
1d3-1 artillery

Notes: Presumption is 6-8 infantry per side (with 1-2 veteran/elite units) with up to 2 machine guns and/or artillery in support.

LARGE/FINAL BATTLE:

French: 
1d3+7 infantry 
1d3 machine guns
1d3 artillery

British:

1d3+7 infantry 
1d3 machine guns
1d3 artillery

Notes:  8-10 infantry units per side (with 2-3 veteran/elite units) with a minimum of 1 machine gun and 1 artillery in support.

II. TERRAIN

I created a entirely new set of terrain cards. Unlike the set I use for games ranging anywhen from the Punic Wars up to the English Civil War, one corner of a given terrain feature (a hill, a wood, or a building) always touches the center of the area in question. There are no blank, open field squares. 

All 12 of the Belle Epoque terrain tiles.

The tiles are shuffled and then one at a time is turned over from the top of the deck to create the board.  There are several variations on how one could lay out the tiles to generate a board.  Up until now I have laid out four in a 2-2 pattern such as pictured below, where the top and bottom edges would be the sides of the table from which each side would deploy.  This works fine for earlier periods but as the games played thus far have revealed, this set up creates a "cone of fire" in the center which artillery can dominate.

A 2x2 terrain map.

One alternative to deal four tiles but do a 1-2-1 arrangement, as pictured below. This would a require slightly different deployment system, however.

1-2-1 arrangement.

Another alternative would be a 1-2-2 arrangement.  For this you deal out a 1-2-1, then roll a dice for the left and right sides.  The higher flank is given an additional card, such as below. For this the 2-2 tile arrangement deployment method could still be used the and the lone terrain piece on the left would be unoccupied at the beginning of the game.

1-2-2 arrangement.

III. DEPLOYMENT:

This is a little tricky to convey, so bear with me.  Armies in this period have evolved away from the old infantry-cavalry-artillery trifecta, and more exclusively towards (lots and lots of) infantry and (lots of) artillery.  So the style of deployment chart from the Italian Wars campaign system is irrelevant, since we're not talking about medieval set-piece battles, where all we have to determine is the rough composition of a van, middle, and rear guard (left flank-center-right flank).  And with the increasing lethality of rifles and artillery, its rather dishonest to deploy anything in an open field at the beginning of the game.  

Battles are also becoming larger, so having all units on the table at the start is also a rather glaring untruth that miniature games enforce for the convenience of having all the toys on the table at the start. Per Moltke, enveloping attacks have become more formidable than attempting to pierce an enemy's front, while at same time increases in firepower reduced the risk to the defender in splitting its forces and increases in the size of armies made outflanking maneuvers more practical.

So, something with a little more complexity is required. My solution is a deployment mechanic that reacts to the terrain tile mechanic.   

FIRST, determine forward and flank deployments of infantry..

Attacker deploys 1 infantry unit on, and up to 1 additional infantry unit behind, a single terrain piece (dice to determine which one).  Defender deploys 2 infantry units on, and up to 1 additional infantry unit behind, on each of two terrain pieces on their side of the board.

Attacker deploys 1-3 infantry units off table on right or left table edge on their half of board. These infantry have been deployed in a Flanking Position. These may come on board any turn the attacker desires.

SECOND, deploy remaining infantry after above instructions have been exhausted... (probably larger games only)

Attacker deploys 1-3 (so 1d3) of remaining infantry units along back line starting with spaces that are directly to the rear of terrain features (infantry on back line are "Main Line Position"), and any remaining units off-table to rear edge (the "Reserve Position"). Roll 1d6+1 for each off table Reserve Position infantry unit each turn, if the result is equal to or less than current turn number (so turn 2, 3, or 4), then this unit is available to come-on table that turn. 

Defender deploys 1-2 (1d3-1) of remaining infantry units along back line ("Main Line Position"), and the rest off-table in Reserve Position in same manner as Attacker.

THIRD, artillery is placed...

The first gun for the defender is placed with the Main Line.  The second and any further additional guns (if available) for defender is placed in Reserve Position.  The first gun for the attacker is placed in the Flank Position. The second gun for the Attacker is place in the Main Line and any further additional guns (if available) for attacker are placed the Reserve Position.  

FOURTH, the general(s) are placed...

The general(s) are placed at center position of Main Line, and may start game with a unit in that space. 

RESERVE POSITION TROOPS

Reserve Position troops are troops still on the way to the battle field when the game starts. Roll 1d6+1 for each off table infantry unit - this is the turn (so turn 2, 3, or 4) that this unit is available to come-on table.  Player is not required to bring units on table on the turn first allowed to do so. However, an army's Exhaustion Point is determined only by units on table and not reserve or flank units, so holding back reserves too long is risky!

FLANK POSITION TROOPS

Flank Position troops may come on board at anytime. Like Reserve Troops, if they are not on table they do not count towards that army's Exhaustion Point.

Optional: Smaller force may buy earthworks to make up difference in SP values (1 grid face @ 1 SP per).  Attacker then moves first as the game truly begins.

IV. CHANCE CARDS

I made two sets of chance cards using those described at Grid Based Wargaming But Not Always.   These are fifteen cards as follows (you can see the effects of each in the photo):

Ammo Shortage x2

Rally x2

Initiative x2

Loss of Nerve x2

Confusion x2

No Event x5

V.  VICTORY AND DEFEAT

I like the system from the Portable Pike & Shot Wargame best: when a side reaches 1/3rd lost SP, it is exhausted and cannot advance or move towards the enemy any more, nor follow-up into a vacated square as a result of close combat.  When a side reaches 1/2 lost SP, it is broken the game is over.

The trick, therefore, is to assume that your army will become exhausted, and to plan accordingly so that when it is exhausted it can continue to fight effectively through ranged attacks so that it may still win the day.

Refining the Belle Epoque wargame

Using the same terrain card draw method, and the same deployment rules, I set up another Belle Epoque game. Instead of rolling up opposing forces, I simply maxed out the French with six line infantry units, a unit of Zouaves, a unit of tirailleurs, and two guns, giving in turn the British six units and two guns.  The British Irish and Scots Guards were rated elite, as were the  Zouaves and tirailleurs.

Starting positions, a view from the French side.

For this game I also made up two identical sets of Chance Cards, based on those used at Grid-Based  Wargaming - But Not Always.

French line infantry.

The terrain cards ended up with this long hill ending almost at mid-table, with the edge of a village directly beyond.  Per deployment rules both sides placed a unit in or on a terrain piece, so the Zouaves and the West Surreys line infantry regiment ended up starting the game in charge range of each other.

Zouaves and the West Surreys, starting game in charge range of eachother!

Both sides had significant flanking efforts underway.  Two British infantry and a gun were approaching from the "east", as were three French infantry and a French gun. Second French gun was coming late to the battle from the rear, and the Kings Royal Rifles was en route for the British.

Starting positions - you can see the large flanking forces to arrive from "east."

The French won the coin toss, and brought their full flanking force on table immediately, with the gun accompanying them pushing through the woods.  The British also brought their full flank on table and both sides arranged themselves for a big clash in and around the facing woods.

Zouaves pushed back, French line units moving up to support.

The other side of the table the Zouaves began a series of repeated assaults on the West Surreys in the town, usually repulsed with no lost strength points for the Zouaves. 

Major French attack on the woods underway, with British Volunteer Rifle units holding the line.

On the wooded side, three French line units and the tirailleurs began a general attack on the British (keep in mind the British are still dicing every turn to bring their eighth unit, the King's Royal Rifles, on table from the rear, so the French enjoy a slight numerical advantage).

British artillery firing away. Even with the +1 from the commander they were not very effective.

Then both sides drew "Ammunition Shortage" chance cards on the same turn. The French tried to take advantage of the situation by fixing bayonets and engaging in close combat on both flanks, but the British held tight.

French close combat assault on the woods.

The French commander leads a flank attack on the woods.

In the "west," the French, led by the brave Zouaves, threw themselves against the West Surrey and Worchestershire Regiments again and again, but were thrown back every time.

French attacks on the town make little progress.

By about turn 4 or 5 thing the British seemed in a  good position. They were withstanding French attacks, and the King's Royal Rifles had finally arrived from the rear.

Probably the high water mark for the British defense - French attacks making little progress with the British taking less casualties, and the Kings Royal Rifles have finally arrived on table.

However during the lull caused by the Low Ammunition events, the French gun which had entered from the flank, and moved through the woods, joined its companion in the field, and together both of them began a furious bombardment of the British center.

The combined French artillery line.

BOOM.  British gun and commander destroyed.  As the commander counts as 6 SP lost for calculation of exhaustion point, the British suddenly found themselves unable to advance toward the enemy.  However, a furious round of rifle fire the woods threw back the French and caused many casualties.

French taking heavy losses from the fight in the woods.

But the center things worsened.  French line infantry overran the second British gun, and the French artillery started bombarding the Scots and Irish Guards, who were frozen in indecision on the British back line. Meanwhile, the Zouaves succeeded in pushing into the town, with the defending West Surreys falling back into another building.

The disaster in the center. French artillery has killed the British commander and decimated the Scots and Irish Guards, and both British guns have been silenced.

Although the Zouaves would end up falling back out of the captured house due to fire from the W.Surreys, the Irish Guards were entirely broken by artillery fire, and the Royal Rifles took heavy casualties from French line, which pushed lost SP for the British over 50% and resulted in another French victory.

End of game. The French right is pretty beat up, but the left is fine, and the British center is in terrible shape.

Carnage around the wood.

Carnage in the center.

French on the French left.

French commander in the center.

What worked well: the chance cards were great, mixing things up a bit, but without creating swingy unbalance.  The deployment/terrain system is also working insofar as I am consistently getting fighting in or around terrain features, which feels more late-19th century versus early Napoleonic Wars-style linear battles, which is what a lot of rules push you towards, knowingly or unknowingly.  I really, really like the system of losing 1/3rd of your starting SP causes you be exhausted (you may no longer advance towards the enemy, even to follow up on a lost melee), and losing 1/2 is your break point.

What doesn't seem quite right:  although the games are centering on fights for terrain features, which is good, I'm noticing that artillery seems to end up sitting in the center and being the deciding factor. In the prior game the British were doing fine until their artillery suddenly didn't have any visible targets anymore. In this game, the British were fine until the French were able to bring both guns to concentrate fire on unsheltered units in the British center. A solution may be to flip terrain tiles differently so that there is terrain in the center so that artillery isn't presented with a perfect cone of fire in the middle every game.

Into the Belle Epoque!

This summer was awful for homecasting, just way too hot every weekend.  So a few weekends ago I finally got all the gear out and poured these customized British and French artillery crew figures, who would go with a bunch of Armies in Plastic krupp guns.  

Ready for paint!

In my previous 54mm Little Wars-style games, I had used Britains toy cannons for artillery, usually crewed by spare figures which I did not have in large enough numbers to field as infantry units. This certainly is in spirit with Wells but the look was not quite right. I was hoping these simple crew figures, which could take head swaps to change nationality, paired with the AIP guns, would look more the part.

Once the castings were done and cleaned up, I primed the guns with a simple gray spray paint. I painted the seat backings black but that's it.

Then out came the gloss varnish!

No choice but to get them on the table!  I rolled up random forces, used the terrain cards to create a table, and tried out my randomized deployment system for my draft Belle Epoque battle generator (needs a little clean up and then I will post it up).  I played around with various sizes of units.  The Portable Wargame assigns 4 strength points to an infantry unit, but a four-figure unit on a six-inch grid square looks a little skinny.  In the below photo, I played around with how 8-figure units looked, and while they looked great I ended up changing them to six-figure units.  Lost SP were tracked by knocking figures over, and an infantry unit which lost 4 out of 6 figures was destroyed.

Starting positions.  The two British units in lower right are off-table.

Both sides end up with six units of infantry and a gun. The British however had two elite units (Scots Guards and Irish Guards) to the French's one elite (Algerian tirailleurs).

French line infantry.

The Belle Epoque battle generator deployment foregoes deploying on the back line in a "traditional wargame" method in favor of deploying on, and next to or behind, a terrain piece.  My Belle Epoque terrain tile cards feature no "blank" tiles, so each quarter of the table has a terrain piece on it. Depending on the flipping of the tiles, these terrain pieces could be closers or further from the center of the table.

Newly recruited British artillery positions in the woods, with Scots Guards deployed to right. Retrospectively I think I did not count all artillery modifiers which may have made this gun less effective than it could have been...

So each side basically gets to deploy one unit in or on the terrain feature in each quarter on their half of the board, then place a single unit to the flank or behind that terrain feature.  1d3 remaining units are then diced for see if they are deployed from an off-table flank (3 French line were deployed as such, none for the British). Then it is diced to see if any units are on the "back line" but on-table, and then any remaining units are assumed to be in "reserve" off table to the rear.  The big difference between off-table Flank and off-table Rear units is that the Flank units are presumed to be part of the general's plan - they have partially chosen to fight here because they know they have a force in flanking position, so the Flanking off-table units may come on board at that player's discretion.  Off-table units to the Rear are presumed to be "marching to the sound of the guns" and may come on table if the dice result of a 1d6+1 (for each unit) is equal or less to the current turn number (so they will not enter on turn 1, but will certainly arrive by turn 7 at the latest).  All of this creates an effect similar to Wells' curtain-across-the-center-of-the-table proposition - when the set up is done and the curtain drawn back, as it were, both sides are presented with a unique set of tactical choices based on their positions and the enemy's positions.

French attacking the village, defended by British commander and Cheshire Rifle Volunteers.

Because the French had three flanking units and the British none, and because the French could see that two more British units would be arriving late from the rear, the French brought all three flanking units on table on the first turn.

Coupled with the elite tirailleurs in the woods opposite the village, and the French figured they could dogpile on the British in the village with four units while the other two French line infantry units kept the British left occupied.

This game was played using The Portable Wargame's late 19th century rules, with loss of 1/3rd strength points equaling exhaustion and loss of 1/2 strength points being the army's breaking point.  I have learned (and appreciate) that advancing your army is beneficial in  The Portable Wargame.  Otherwise, you will hit your exhaustion point with the majority of your army too removed from the action to still contribute in anyway.

French tirailleurs attack the Irish Guards.

The tirailleurs attacked the Irish Guards in the village many times but could not drive them out.  The tirailleurs would fall back but managed to avoid actually losing strength points.

Cheshire Rifles, and slain officer!

Things went less well for the volunteer rifles who were subjected to rifle fire and close combat attacks from three different French units, resulting in the death of the British commander.  The commander counts as 6 (!) points toward exhaustion point, so between this and some other losses, the British were already on the brink of defeat!

The Scots Guards fight against French regulars.

On the opposite flank the French diversionary attack against the British left wasn't going anywhere.  The Queen's Westminsters (another volunteer unit) had arrived from the rear and bolstered the line in the woods. 

New French artillery crew alongside the (dashing) French commander.

These two French line infantry units are on verge of breaking, but have succeeded in routing the Cheshire Volunteers and pushing the Irish Guards and [black helmets] out of the town.

In the village, the Cheshire Rifles were broken, but French attacks on the Worchestershire and Essex regiments failed to make significant gains. More importantly, however, the Irish Guards were at last pushed out their defensive position and then hard pressed by the tirailleurs, line units, and an French artillery fire, causing the Irish Guards to fall even further back.  

Scots Guards pushed back.

On the British left, the Scots Guards had been pushed back, although, along with the Queen's Westminsters, with few casualties. However, the two French line units had gotten close enough that they were not in clear line of sight of the British artillery in the woods anymore, and it was fire from the gun which had previously kept causing the French to fall back. But compared to the carnage and loss on the British right in the village, fighting was light.

Indecisive fighting in the woods.

Back in the village, the tirailleurs then rushed out of the seized position in the house and flanked the Irish Guards.

Irish Guards are flanked by tiralleurs.

This flanking attack by the tirailleurs cost the Irish Guards another lost strength point and pushed the British army past the breaking point. French victory.

Endgame.  The Irish Guards have fallen back and lost the 13th strength point (which would also break the Guards, actually, having lost 4 SP) to reach British breaking point.

The loss of the British commander really did in the British early, and I may scratch that rule. I also did not count a +2 modifier to hit for field artillery if they have unobstructed direct line of sight. This would have made the two guns much more effective and could have effected things greatly. I miss the look of the old 10-figure units but six-figure units give me more French to deploy. I would shrink the grid size to 5" or even 4" squares but that pushes the pebbles rather too close together and clutters the board, I think. Also my houses are all built to fit on a 6" square (some just barely), so a smaller grid would involve another round of house building. On other hand 4" squares would give a table about 24 squares wide and 20 deep which might work really well for Belle Epoque games? Hmm...

This was the first toy soldier game played on my flocked mat as opposed to plain felt, which I had previously avoided because I thought they would visually clash.  If anything I think the flocked mat makes the figures pop a bit more visually.  

20mm Ancients

Looking to play some Punic Wars, Sicilian Wars, or Pyrrhic Wars (let's just call it the 'Hellenistic Age') in the near future with my 20mm collection using the gridded ancients rules in Developing the Portable Wargame.  Assessing the existing armies, I noticed that a 24-figure unit (six 40mm square bases) looks way sexier than 12-figure, and also fills up a 6" grid square better.  Switching to this would give me a lot of armies with four heavy infantry units, supported by three or four 9-figure light infantry units (3 figures to a 40mm square base) and at least two cavalry units (I could go with 6- or 12- figure units on this, both look fine).  While a 9 to 10 unit game will work just fine in Developing the Portable Wargame, some of the armies still felt a little on the small side if switching to 24-figure units. So painting has gotten underway and more figures acquired.

Here's what I've managed to finish up this last month, despite a busy summer calendar:

96 Macedon (or Pyrrhic or Successor state) phalangites by HAT.  The pikes are steel wire. They were attached to figures by heating one end (of the wire) over a candle and attaching to the figure while still hot - the soft plastic melts and sticks and the wire embeds a bit.

Some of these are clearly facing to the right, if you look. Its peculiar these were sculpted this way when the overall set is clearly meant to be arranged in a multi-ranked block of sarissas. Oh well.

Thessalian cavalry by HAT.

I'm not a big fan of the figure at back right corner, with his arms out akimbo. I should have used hot water/cold water treatment to reposition his arms. Oh well.

Celt infantry by Caesar miniatures. I paint 16 of these for Hail Caesar over a year ago (two years?). I painted up 8 more and finally based them to get this unit of 24. This unit will really help bolster Carthagenian infantry lines.

Like most sets that feature forward-rushing ancient infantry, positioning the figures on a multi-base can be a bit of a pain. Especially when you have some figures who are clearly not rushing forward. You do the best you can and probably no one else even notices...