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.

Sedgbrook (Sept. 1643) - ECW Lincolnshire Campaign Game #6

Following the Parliament victory by Sir John Meldrum at Thorp in the Fallow, the Royalists had managed to reach the final battle square first and took advantage of Parliament's bad fortunes (unpaid troops mutinying, bad weather) to strike unexpectedly south at Grantham with the idea of opening up the road to London.  3 miles from Grantham, the Royalists, having replaced as their commander the oft-defeated Sir John Henderson with Sir William Widdrington, found Meldrum waiting for them in small sconce blocking the road, outside of Sedgbrook.

Positions after first moves. Royalists on right, Parliament on left.

In the finale to the 1495 Italian Wars campaign, the advantage conferred on the first to the final battle square was that the defending side took a -1 on every roll on the force composition randomizer.  Each side then received a "captain," which was an additional heroic personality figure conferring the same +1 modifiers as the usual general.  The problem with this approach is that the result can be fairly pedestrian - in the aforementioned Italian Wars finale game the defender rolled exceptionally well, and the -1 to each troop type only ended up creating equally sized forces. Both sides won an equal number of games during the campaign so had an equal number of captains, so its hard to say if having a 4-to-1 advantage in captains would be advantageous.  Additionally, because the Italian Wars game ended up with equally sized armies, there was no need for the defender to acquire the usual earthworks for its deficit in strength points.

Rather than "captains," I decided that each game won would grant the winning side an additional unit in the final battle (so +4 to Parliament and +1 to the Royalists). Parliament would therefore be rewarded for winning more of the earlier battles which would offset them not reaching the final battle square first. Sir William Widdrington thus rolled up 3 elite Northern Horse and 1 average Harquebusier troops of horse, 3 elite Whitecoat and 1 average battalias of foot, a single Whitecoat elite commanded shot unit, and a light gun.

Parliament.

Sir John Meldrum's Parliament army of the Eastern Association ended up with 4 troops of elite Fairfax Horse and one average Harquebusier, one average battalia and three poor battalias of Lincolnshire Train'd Bands, and a light gun.  As the Royalists had 33 SP to Parliaments 30, Parliament also had a small 3-sided sconce as an upgrade (adding 3 SP) to bring them to 33.  On the random deployment table, Widdringtron deployed his troops in two lines, with cavalry mixed in at edge of the foot, while Meldrum's forces were deployed in a more traditional line with the foot in the middle and the cavalry on the flanks. 

Royalists.

Now Widdrington took survey of the field.  To his left flank was a fairly dense wood (3 squares by 3 squares) and a hill or ridge ran along his right.  Opposite the woods were 3 squadrons of Parliament horse.  He struck upon a plan (not wanting to be indecisive, like Henderson had at Thorp in the Fallow and earlier in June at Carlton Scroop), which was for his horse on his left to swing across and join his horse on his right. The commanded shot would take cover in the woods and assist the non-Whitecoat battalia and deflecting flanking moves by the Parliament horse opposite the woods, while the three battalias of elite Newcastle Whitecoat foot would attack the center at the same time the now-massed Northern Horse attacked the Parliament horse.  

On the right side, the Parliament cavalry by the woods threatens the advancing Royalist infantry.  In the back, the Royalists are swinging their left flank cavalry around to the Royalist right. 

Meldrum, with the benefit of some defensive works in the form of sconce, decided to form his foot up around said sconce.  He suffered a bit of indecision with his three troops of horse on his left. At first he thought to position them by woods and to attack the Parliament foot in the flank when they attacked the sconce. But as the Royalist horse rode away to the other flank, he decided to send at least one troop all the way around the wood to harass the Parliament rear. 

Elite Royalist Whitecoats foot advancing en masse. These figures in buff coats and morion helmets are my latest addition.

The Parliament trained bands in position around their sconce.

In other words, other than some ineffective cannon fire by the falconets, both sides politely waited while the other got itself into position.

The Royalist attack is in position. Parliament has decided to send a troop of Fairfax Horse around the woods to pin down a Royalist battalia in the rear.

This was the first game of the Portable Pike & Shot Wargame where I was not allowing heavy artillery to be present, and, at the last minute, decided to port over the idea of letting guns share a square with a friendly unit.  This was really quite easy to figure out (1) the light gun and any friendly unit could share a square; (2) they resolved their shooting attacks separately; (3) if shot at, and if fire was effective, simply roll for both the gun and co-habitant unit separately so see if they lose a SP or retreat.

Royalist infantry ready for the attack.

Royalist cavalry ready for the attack.

Parliament horse on Parliament left, now contemplating two-to-one odds against them...

His army in position, Widdrington gave the signal and the Royalist army began its advance, with the foot and horse both moving to charge range.

The Royalist attack begins...

Around the same time, the Parliament flank horse came around the woods to attempt its attack on the Parliament rear.

Parliamentarians waiting for the Royalist assault.

Then there was close combat everywhere at once. The flanking Parliamentarian harquebusiers attacked the waiting Royalist battalia in the flank, failed to make headway, then lost the subequent round and ended up fleeing the table!

A huge break for the Royalists - the flanking Parliament horse is quickly beaten and flees the field!

On the other flank, the outnumbered-two-to-one Fairfax Horse were swarmed by the Royalist cavalry, and while one troop held its ground, the other was also quickly routed. Things are going very well for Widdrington thus far!

While at the other side of the field, another squadron of Parliament horse is also routed by the swarming Northern Horse...

In the center the Whitecoats attacked the sconce and the battalias on its flanks. On one side, the Whitecoats (blue flag with white caltrop) pushed back Meldrum's single battalia of veterans (green banner with white quarters), and although the Lincolnshire trained band held the sconce, the civilian crew of the falconet fell back. 

The Royalist Whitecoats gain ground on left side of the sconce. 

On the other side of the sconce, Parliament cavalry attempted to flank the advancing Whitecoats, made little headway, and then ended up boxed in between their own trained bands and the Whitecoats.

While some Parliament horse has attempted to intervene in the combats on the right side of the sconce.

Now, with a little luck, Widdrington's plans continued to pay dividends. With the Royalist foot engaged in front of the sconce, the falconet was able to pivot and fire on the Fairfax Horse waiting by the woods. They scored a hit (no mean task, needing a 6) and the targeted horse fell back. The commanded shot in the woods now moved over and fired into the flank of another troop of Fairfax Horse, causing a SP of damage and pushing the Parliament army past its exhaustion point! At this point, Widdrington's forces had only lost 6 or 7 SP, so the advantage was strongly theirs to get Parliament the break point first!

Another key moment - the Royalist gun is able to push back one troop of Parliament horse threatening the flank of the foot. Commanded shot in the woods then is able to move and get a shot at another Parliament squadron and inflict another lost SP - the Parliamentarian army has reached its exhaustion point!

Another view - Royalist gun in background has caused Parliament horse at right to fall back, opening up the LOS for the commanded shot in the woods.

As it so happened, however, Parliament proved tenacious, and despite being unable to advance towards the Royalists anymore, the Royalists fared poorly in several combats and were quickly past the exhaustion point as well.

Now both sides are at exhaustion point, so musketry fire has increased and the few units still in close combat range continue to resolve melees.

Then began several rounds of musketry and artillery fire as both sides tried to push the other past the break point. For a second, the struggle pulled even, with both sides at 13 SP lost each, but the Royalists managed a few more hits, and Widdrington himself led a Whitecoat charge against a battalia of Lincolnshire trained bands to win the day!

Widdrington personally leads the deciding combat to carry the day, and the campaign!

In one day of ferocious fighting at Sedgbrook, the previous five months of Parliament victories were undone, with Grantham once again in Royalist hands and the road to London too open for Parliament comfort. 

End of game.

Campaign play and the battle-maker continue to create interesting and balanced games.  The only hiccup was the overpowered artillery in the earlier games, which was easily fixed.  The siege of Newark game worked quite well, and only needs a few wrinkles fixed. If I have gripe, its that visually its looks too much the same as the Italian Wars siege of Novarra game - I think the only way to address this is to construct more towers, walls, and fortifications of varying shapes so that it doesn't look like the same town everytime! This isn't a hard or even burdensome task (terrain construction takes far less time than figure painting and the resulting effect is dramatic and immediate), but I just need to figure out the modular nature of the new fortifications so they can be mixed and matched (I'm thinking of adding some larger/wider towers, some curved walls, and something more castle-like or stronghold-like that could sit at one edge with the town enclosure spreading out from it.

Thanks to all who read along and commented here and elsewhere, and to Gabe, Pete, and Nick for playing remotely. Not sure when or what the next game (or campaign) will be, as summer vacation begins in earnest this week and hobby time will be more limited. But being fully vaccinated (effective last Thursday!) I'm sure an in-person games will return!

Thorp in the Fallow (late August 1643) - ECW Lincolnshire Campaign Game #5

With Parliament's siege of Newark lifted on August 3, 1643, Sir John Henderson gathered his Whitecoat infantry and Northern Horse and struck into Lindsey towards the town Lincoln itself in late August.  In a wooded area not far from Thorp in the Fallow, he brought John Meldrum's Parliamentarians to battle. 

Starting positions - Parliament to left, Royalists to right.

Henderson was able to deploy his dragoons in the woods, with the rest of his foot coming up in two lines, and his horse to each flank, and figured to use the woods as an easy-to-defend anchor in the center of his lines.  Both sides were numerous in men and horse (i.e. both sides maxed out in battalias on the battle randomizer).  

Starting positions from the Royalist side of the board. 

Meldrum's army was deployed in a single long line, with infantry in the center and his own Fairfax Horse and harquebusiers to each flank.

Henderson's Royalist foot in the woods.

Henderson enjoyed a significant advantage in terms of the lay of the land - he could pick and choose whether to fight on the left or right side of the woods (therefore using the woods to secure a flank),  or fight on both and use the woods as covered position (to anchor his center).  Making the choice somewhat tricky was that he was slightly outnumbered in cavalry, with three troops of Fairfax Horse opposing two of his Northern Horse on the left. 

Royalist left.

But, as has plagued the Royalist cause throughout the Lincolnshire campaign, Henderson could not make up his mind. At first he thought to use dragoons and commanded shot to hold the woods, and to hen shift his entire army to his left, narrowing the front on which Parliament could attack. But then he became concerned about Parliament getting into the edge of the woods arly on and pushing the dragoons out and potentially splitting his army in two, so he instead advanced up both sides of the woods (so haphazardly adopting the plan of using the woods to secure his center).

The formidable looking Parliament foot.

After this initial move, it was an easy matter for Meldrum to simply advance forward all along the line, with no real difficult decision involved.

After first moves.

As Henderson brought the first of his Whitecoat battalias up to hold the flank of his dragoons, he risked exposing said battalia to flank attacks by the Fairfax Horse - accordingly, not wanting to lose the initiative, he ordered his two Northern Horse squadrons to attack. After some melee one of the Northern Horse was down 2 SP, a Fairfax Horse was down only 1, and the Royalist horse looked somewhat boxed in.

Northern Horse in close combat with Fairfax Horse.

In the woods, the attack by the Parliament battalia was repulsed but the dragoons fell back.

Royalist dragoons in the wood. 

Whitecoat commanded shot nervously eye the cavalry melee.

The great press of Parliamentarian foot. Unlike earlier parts of the campaign, these are mostly seasoned troops and not Lincolnshire Trained Bands.

Subsequently, Henderson himself was able to lead a squadron of Northern Horse in pursuit of retreating Fairfax Horse through and behind Parliament lines. However, this left the Royalist left somewhat undermanned.  In the center and on the Royalist right there was much close combat with neither side retreating.

Things devolve into a great and bloody combat. At far top, cavalry clash on the Royalist right. In the center and in the woods, multiple pushes of pike. Bottom left, cavalry battle going poorly for Royalist left. Center right: royalist dragoons and commanded shot try to secure the flank.

The fight in the woods.

The fight by the woods.

And the fight on the other side of the woods.

Although the Royalists were the first to reach their exhaustion point (no more moving towards enemy, no follow-ups to close combats), they were still able to tip the Parliamentarians past their exhaustion point as well quite quickly.  As many units were still adjacent to enemy units, or in musketry range, a few rounds of close combat and firefights took place despite both armies' exhausted status.

I believe this is around the time both sides became exhausted and the slog to someone hitting their break point had begun. Note Henderson's cavalry behind Parliament lines...

However, the Royalists were just too far behind to even things up and pull out a victory. Despite mostly repulsing the Parliament foot all along the line, the Northern Horse on the left was completely routed, and lost SP piled up here and there amongst the rest of the on-table units.  Henderson himself fled the field early, as the Northern Horse he had personally led behind Parliament lines was routed.

End of game. All of Northern Horse on royalist left flank routed (and Henderson himself with them). Whitecoat battalias and commanded shot, however, have repelled their attackers and retreat in good order.  Royalist dragoons routed.

These Parliament veterans have fallen back from fire from the Whitecoat battalia to their front. To the right you can see Meldrum with a very beat-up battalia of his own (having lost 3 SP)... 

Behind these Whitecoats, a battalia each of Royalist and Parliament can be seen still locked in push of pike. 

Parliament harquebusiers. These guys have actually fallen back from a melee with royalist Northern Horse.

A view from the far Parliament left flank.

This was of course the fourth straight loss in a field battle for the Royalist cause in Lincolnshire (their only victory coming earlier in the month at successful defense of Newark).

These orange-jacketed Royalist trained bandsmen could probably have held the woods along with the commanded shot and dragoons, and this third squadron of Northern Horse could have helped the Royalist left hold its own against the Fairfax Horse, if Henderson had stuck to his initial idea...

On the campaign board, the Royalists did not slide forward on the short victory arrow.  However, Parliament rolled and landed on the "unpaid troops desert or mutiny" square and moved down a level! The Royalists moved forward a few squares and Parliament rolled and landed on the "bad weather square" and moved down another level! The Royalists rolled low and I was pretty sure Parliament would get another battle as attacker but instead they landed on the other "bad weather" square and ended up in the very bottom row! The Royalists then finally moved into the campaign-ending final battle square.

For the narrative, these dice rolls translated into: For his poor record, and for fleeing the field, Sir John Henderson was removed from command of the Royalist forces and replaced by Sir William Widdrington.  While Widdrington gathered his forces, Meldrum's Parliament army suffered multiple logistical set-backs, allowing Widdrington to recapture the initiative and attack.  On to the sixth and final battle!