William's 17th&18th Century Wargaming & Musings:

William's 17th&18th Century Wargaming & Musings:
So in my last post I mentioned how much we enjoyed playing our first game of Maurice and I am hoping to get a few photos that John took to post, hopefully.

As many of you know times have been tough for many of us.  Another consideration is that with the numbers of gamers we have regularly attend and the huge number of WSS units we currently have I am thinning out my War of Spanish Succession armies.  Greg and I have talked about this for a while and given what we perceive as the number of units per player for Maurice we have come to the conclusion that we may currently have too many toys in our collections.   John is building WSS armies and one of our other gamers is also building so I don't think we will ever be short of figures.  I believe Greg will be posting some of his excellently painted figures on his own blog in the near future.  I too will be posting some photos of the units I will be willing to part with.  My figures are very nicely painted but not to the expert level of Greg's.  Then again mine are cheaper as a result.  LOL

I have still not begun painting but I hope to change that this weekend by spending a little time dabbling with a brush.

Greg just inventoried his unpainted SYW which has made me start to look at mine again.  A little over a year ago I had gone through all of my SYW and organized them into 18 man units for Might and Reason.  Greg and I had thought we were going to use the larger unit size as seen in many of the blogs,  mostly from the Australian and New Zealander gamers.   A great plan until we played Maurice!  As there are several of us building armies we all decided that all of our units will be 4 stands of 6 figures to better match both sets of the rules.   I guess all of that work will have to be done again.  While the idea of 18 figure units for units is still appealing  I have to say it will be easier to paint up 24 figure units as that would then equal 1 Maurice unit and 2 Might and Reason units.  Quicker vs. painting up a total of 32 figures to create the same number of units.  I will try to get that inventory done this weekend also.

Cheers

Pirates in Missouri

From fisfull of Seamen The Largest Pirate game ever Wow what a trip that would be----
Can you say Tortugaaaaaaaaaaaaa or Blimey they have how many cannon on that ship?
http://fistfullofseamen.blogspot.com/2013/04/recruits-2013-photos-by-greg-moore-used.html

William's 17th&18th Century Wargaming & Musings:

William's 17th&18th Century Wargaming & Musings:
So after setting this up a YEAR ago I am finally in a place to feel like I can do some posting.  I have been lurking around in many blogs the past few years.  I have read some great stuff, found great ideas and interesting stories.  I have never felt that I was able to put down into words my experiences but what the heck I will put it all out there and on the line to see what happens, hopefully good.  I know everyone has different ideas on what is fun in the gaming world we inhabit and I am sure that some of my views will not be  yours.  I will say now that my intention is to have fun, share ideas and who knows what else.  I never intend to insult anybody in anyway and hope to always treat everyone and their views with respect.  That said, my first post officially starts now.

I have been gaming along time and have run the gamut of rules, figures, and periods (mostly historical).  I have to tell you that recently I have had trouble finding the spark I used to have painting and gaming.  The reasons are many I am sure.  Not meaning to bore but I have found that age has mellowed me plus 3 corporate downsizing in the past 15 years and most recently my data position was sent to India soooo that has not helped my outlook much. 

So what brings this change in my willingness to post on my blog and hopefully start seriously painting again?  Yesterday my group, The Kennesaw Mountain Wargamers,  played our fist game of Maurice.  While the group plays in my game room once a month and I enjoy the games the various members run this was the first time in ages that I so thouroghly enjoyed playing in a game!  There have been many reviews written about the rules in various blogs that I surf I must tell you that I believe the positive reviews were not.....wait for it....positive enough!  The 5 of us who played the game had a wonderful time and we all agreed that these rules brought the fog of war, friction of war and command tension (in a positive since of the word?) to whole new heights.   While we made a few minor errors once we got the game running we found it play smoothly.  I have to give Greg thanks for becoming our rules expert and running the game.  John and he had gotten together a week or two before and had a run through game.  I have enjoyed Might and Reason and it is indeed true that the core combat resolution is the same.

 John and I were pitted against Jim and Rob.  We used our collections of 28mm WSS figures as most of us parted with our SYW figures years ago, me due to one of the downsizings.  Each commander had 9 or 10 infantry and 4 cavalry regiments and 1 artillery battery.  We did not use the "national" modifiers like oblique march etc.  We did not use any elite units and very little terrain as this was our first official game and we didn't want to take any chances of making the game more complex than it had to be for our first outing.   

John and I commanded a mixed army of British and Germans while Jim and Greg had a mixed force of Bavarians and French.  I faced off against the French with my Germans and John used his British  against the Bavarians.  We used 8 feet of my game table which we thought would be enough for the game as the game table was basically featureless.  It turned out that we were a bit cramped and actual maneuver was limited.  We plan on using another 4 feet next time, I think if we had paid more attention to the rules and suggestions there and posted elsewhere we would have started with 12 feet.  John and I were the attackers so we drew the appropriate number of extra cards.  We were a little surprised when both Jim and Rob surged forward with their troops also.

The extra attack cards gave us the early advantage that evened out as the game played out.  Jim was very aggressive for a "defender" and he put John on the defensive for most of the game.  As a result of good die rolls, play of cards and such the Bavarians were able to turn our early advantages to a close game.  So how did I do?  Surprising well all things considered.  I attacked with 4 infantry units in my front line while Rob had deployed in 3 lines each of 3 battalions.  This turned out to give me the advantage for most of the game.  I was always able to double up fire on one of Rob's units as a result.  Truth be told if Rob had not had some of the most horrible die rolls any of us have seen the game may have well turned out differently.  When he would roll hits, which wasn't too often he couldn't convert those hits into disruptions.  So my luck allowed me to end the game with 2 infantry and 1 cavalry unit removed from play while I was able to destroy 5 of 6 of his infantry units.  Robs loses helped us stay ahead on army morale until the very end as Jim was very successful with his attacks on John.  The game turn had army morale at Brit/Germ at 4 points and the Bav/Fr at 3 (if I remember correctly).

John and I had several units with disruption markers that would have given our opponents the chance to win the game.  Fortunately both John and I each held a passage of lines card that we played to replace our shot up units.  I was then able to destroy another of Robs units which he rolled the maximum to lose the 3 remaining army morale points on their side.  This was on the turn that Rob destroyed my 2nd infantry unit and I was able to roll the minimum amount and only lost 1 point.  John and I each held a  "Rogues! Do you want to live forever?" that we would have both played had we gone one more turn.  This card allows you to regain 1 or 2 army morale points.  We both rolled to see how many points we would have gained back just to "see" and we gained 3 points back which had the game gone one more turn may have given us the added cushion to have still won the game, but that is a big may have.

Neither side had any light troops so those cards were discarded quickly when drawn.   We all got to use assorted devious cards on each other including the death of a hero cards.  I was hording the "That's not on the map" card but never got to play it.

So what's next?  Well let me see.  If all goes well I will reread the rules at least once so we minimize our rules interpretation errors.   Finish a unit of pirates that I had promised John a year ago, these are the only lead 28mm figures that I have painted in over a year and a half.  They languish half completed on the painting desk.  Actually start some 28mm WSS/LOA or SYW figures for myself.  If I can swing that it will mean things are really going well indeed!  Add to my 1/72 plastic armies for SYW and Imagi-nation campaign I have had on again and off again for the past 30 years.  The plastic armies are actually something relatively new for me that I have started over the past 2 or 3years.  More about this later.  Cheers

36th ANNUAL ATLANTA MILITARY MODEL FIGURE

Too bad this does not have a wargaming convention tied to it. Should be a nice little convention to take some pics and maybe see if any vendors have anything interesting. Pics to follow

Napoleon in Egypt 1798 Battle of Shubra Khit (or Chambreis),

Already saw this done on my Scottish buddies blog in Edinburgh, So with my buddy Andy over tonight thought we would give it a go with the troops I have on hand turns out that I had more Ottoman types than I thought especially if I use Russian Cossacks as Ottoman light cavalry. I forgot I had 2 painted and mounted light cavalry Ottoman Kettle drummers with three more sitting in a drawer somewhere.

This Battle was fought beneath the walls of the Shubra Khit Fortress as the Fortress garrison commander Pasha Shubra refused to aid the Ottomans defending the seaport, because of a long standing feud between the Ottoman Army commander and the Egyptian Garrison Pasha. The LOAK rule for the Ottomans wasn't quite as restrictive as I thought it should be. Perhaps I was applying the regular C in C order restrictions when it should have been applied at a lower level - ie - failed command rolls end the Ottoman command phase.

Ottomans whipped the piecemeal attacks of the French - Also had too much infantry and 1 unnecessary heavy cannon for the Ottomans. (Even though I had the extra cannon roll each turn to " artillery piece see if  it was loaded as it was a "levy: The Ottoman camel guns were a pesky lot.
 The three French regular battalions swept away the outlying Ottoman skirmishers fairly easily. But the initial attack on the village failed even though it was a weakly held area. Withering fire from the 2 Ottoman Heavy Cannon was sufficient to drive off one battalion and then the second battalion lost the melee. A steep hill not in the original scenario would have been removed for any subsequent followup games. Although given its height this should have served as a blind spot for the attack given the inability of the gun to depress / fire at targets inside 12 to 15 inches.

Ottomans won the only cavalry melee and used a sweeping advance to catch the French Horse artillery standing limbered, not sure about this outcome because in past games it seems French artillery should have been able to evade maybe after a breaktest before contact because the Mameluke cavalry had to use their entire movement to get to them. The command level of 7 for the Ottomans was just right. I had the French rated rather high which I thing was good given that they were trained Europeans fighting Ottoman rabble.

Having blundered almost off the table the regular Brigade of French infantry, 2 turns later the French infantry Brigade audaciously advanced to confront the Mameluke Cavalry with heavy musketry fire.

Also the Veteran Brigade lost  two battalions which broke this Brigade (under the broken brigade rule the third battalion can no longer advance - I would modify this to follow me orders of the brigade commander) which finally allowed French reinforcements to appear, but too late to have any real effect on the battle.

 



Also some of my western Mexican buildings can double as the Ottoman village - with a Miniature Building Authority Domed building coming out for the first time - Since I picked it up at Cold Wars 2010.- Pics to follow. For the moment i borrowed some from the Scottish battle fought in Edinburgh last week.

The Miniature Building Authority Mosque at the center of my battlefield minus the minaret

The pics from the actual game

 

Shubra Khit

The French Division poised to attack

French Cavalry Brigade

Assaulting the ottoman village and its defenders

The camel guns poke at the French cavalry while the Mameluke sit disorganized and unmoving

Having routed one unit earlier the French troops press forward their advantage

Fantastic the only blunder move causing the French division and its artillery to retreat "away" from the enemy - some dispute over which direction is "away" left to the rear or to the right. I suppose I could have diced for it in all fairness, but since when are the French fair especially against Ottomans!

The extra Ottoman gun that really should have been left off and but for a unit not responding would have been overrun - next time maybe gun crews exposed and unsupported by infantry not in a BUA have to retreat like skirmishers?

The blunder move with attached artillery

The unfortunate horse artillery caught napping on a sweeping advance by Mameluke cavalry that had forced the french cavalry to retire

The brigade of french Infantry advancing to poor fir into the flanks and front of Ottoman cavalry a charge would have been nice but they would have just evaded

the pesky Ottoman Camel guns before deployment

 

 



Southern Museum and the General

Went by Kennesaw late in  the day, but the museum was almost closed so I snapped some pictures in the Lobby and Gift shop - almost picked up a stone  bridge  for 7 bucks - but I have enough bridges right now. It would work for 28mm horse and musket gaming easily.

Pics to follow (been in the area 13-14 years and I think I have been to the museum maybe 4 times?)



Miscellaneous Scotland - Stockbridge - Almost an anniversary

St Johns Church Princes Street

A lot has changed since I walked the streets of Edinburgh Scotland

with my friend Tetu Apparently she has taken a path unknown to me

to get married almost 2 years after her divorce in Dec 2010

but I still consider her a dear sweet friend and a great cook