01 Jan 25 - Hobby Update

There hasn't been too much happening on the hobby side recently, although I did get a bit done over the last week. Things have just been generally difficult as well as very busy, and somewhat sapped my enthusiasm and energy levels for gaming (except thinking about it - that is always easy to do!)

Some 1810-13 Saxon Infantry (top-left base is a 'Frankenstein' French infantry base, made up of lots of odds and ends, plus a couple of ECW individually-based figures (for use as markers), plus a Polish WW2 sniper! All Baccus except for the Scotia sniper I think

More Saxons, with a couple of bases of Italian infantry on the left

And the full thing

Some Kubelwagens (GHQ?) and some H&R Germans with StG44, a couple of French vehicles, some generic Allied motobikes, some British Paras with flamethrowers, and some Polish with their light platoon mortar

Some German artillery, and some British Paras with satchel charges

Some Napoleonic Saxon infantry, plus some Commanded Shot for the Thirty Years War

Game-wise, I re-did the 1632 Battle of Lutzen in the Neil Thomas style for the C18 and Polemos: Ruse de Guerre - a battle report for that soon - but otherwise game-time has been for family boardgames and RPGs. But hoping (as always!) to get more to the table soon...

Alte Veste 1632 - Twilight of Divine Right refight

I managed to get a miniatures game in today, the first in quite a while. I re-fought the Battle of Alte Veste from the Thirty Years' War, the next battle along in the series of scenarios in the Europe's Tragedy scenario book which accompanies the rules I was using, as ever for these games, Twilight of Divine Right. 

 

This one seems to get slightly less love than other contemporary battles for games - possibly because Gustavus Adolphus lost? Or because there is somewhat less love for the Imperialists than some of the other factions involved in the war (e.g. Sweden, Spain, France, Bavaria)? In any case, this battle was quite new to me, and it is tactically very, very interesting, because it combines elements of 'attack on a fortified position' (as the Swedes attack a fortified Imperial campaign) with elements of 'meeting engagement' (as various large contingents reinforce each side).

The Set-Up:

A Swedish army under Gustav is marching, mainly through some woods, to attack a fortified Imperialist camp. Wallenstein's troops must hold the position until Wallenstein himself can bring up reinforcements to save the day.

The Imperialist camp, with a few fortified outworks in the middle of the field.  The Swedes are advancing in the backround...

Imperial infantry occupying the outworks, about to face the full wrath of the Swedish army...

Another view

The right-hand corner of the Imperialist camp, with a third outwork protecting it.

The Battle:

The Swedish Army advances: relatively slowly, due to the complications of moving through the woods.

The Swedish left flank, under the King himself, leads the Swedish advance, hoping to achieve superiority at this point.

A slightly wider view of the same...

The Swedish infantry advance up the hill to try to get to grips with the Imperialist defenders, through the storm of shot and ball...

Can the Imperialist reinforcements (bottom) arrive to support in time.

Most of the remainder of the Swedish army is in position to attack, although a couple of straggling units are still in the rear.

One of the leading Swedish units disintegrates under Imperialist fire; the remainder are struggling to get forward.

The first batch of reinforcements arrive: dismounted Swedish cavalry - please use your imagination somewhat here, in the real battle, the dismounted Horse were apparently mainly used as pikemen (!)

They advance to try and turn the Imperialist Left

The Swedes seem to be making some progress in the centre - can a few Imperialist gunners hold them off?

Yes - long enough for reinforcements arrive, and a regiment of musketeers to move down from the hill to discomfit the Swedish main body (right)

Reinforcements have arrived and are clashing, over on the Imperialist Left/Swedish Right; the Swedes have overrun the left-hand outwork (top-right)

A wider shot: the Swedes made some progress, but have been stalled by the counter-attack from the Imperialist reserve.

The Imperial reinforcements arrive in the nick of time, to stop the fortified camp being breached and entered on a wide front.

At last (cente-right), the Swedes have dispersed the Imperialist musketeers who were causing such damage to the edge of the Swedish attack

However, the Swedish left flank column, which sustained heavy casualties trying to get through the outwork on the hill, is now being attacked in its flank!

The Swedish forces just cannot break into the main camp, and losses are high - and mounting

Although the Imperialists have the numerical advantage on the Left, the Swedes are holding their own - thus far.

The Swedish Left has been routed!

And the Swedish Right is incurring unsustainable losses, despite some unlikely successes in repelling the Imperial Cuirassiers (centre)

At this point, the Swedish Army's morale gave way, the Foot had made its final effort

The last ditch efforts of the Swedes to break through the centre have proven fruitless.

 Game Notes: 

A very interesting game, especially since I did not know (or at any rate, could not remember) the course and outcome of the historical battle. The scenario is very well designed, especially in terms of the reinforcement mechanics, which enforce a probability distribution of outcomes so a player knows roughly what is likely to arrive in which order, but it isn't always entirely certain; and the 'when' is even less certain.

The immediate tactical problem for the Swedes is in how fast against how organized they want their initial attack to be, knowing that time is pressing and their task will be much harder once the Imperialist reinforcements arrive: this was the justification for attacking on the Swedish Left before the Centre was really ready. Here, the luck really favoured the Imperialists, quickly dispersing one Swedish brigade and holding off the rest. The Imperialists in all the outwork positions fought hard, frustrating the Swedish advance, although all were ultimately doomed. The Swedish infantry tactical advantages could not quite compensate for the strength of the Imperialist defensive positions.

Having sorted out exactly how the support modifiers worked with very deep formations, there was somewhat less emphasis on such things in this battle, although with quite a lot of musketeer units on both sides, then there might have been less emphasis regardless, as both sides needed to try and maximize their shooting. 

I don't think I encountered any rules issues with this one. The rules make it quite difficult for units to turn to flank and so on when they are in quite dense formations - which seems fairly realistic - so a couple of times musketeer units got around the flank into very nasty enfilading positions, which seems a fair risk/reward trade off of trying to use mass to carry positions.

Anyway, all very good fun, was good to get a game on the table!

Figures by Baccus 6mm, earthworks mainly by Irregular - the latter are apparently stopping (temporarily at least) production of their 6mm ranges. This is a bit of a pity - I am not a huge Irregular customer, but I do have a fair number of their terrain bits and their boats (plus my 6mm Vietnam stuff is mainly Irregular too).

Crossing the Lech / Battle of Rain 1632 - Twilight of Divine Right

Next up in this series of Thirty Years' War refights is the Crossing of the Lech, otherwise known as the  Battle of Rain. This scenario is published in the second TYW scenario book for Twilight of Divine Right, "To the Peace of the Pyrenees".

 

 

 

Here, Tilly's Imperial troops are on the strategic defensive. Gustavus has made a bridgehead over the Lech but has also sent a flanking force to ford the Lech and outflank any force the Imperialists send against the bridgehead...

 

It is up to the Swedes/Protestants to win the battle, a draw favours the Imperialists/Catholics.

 

The Forces:

 More detailed forces are in the scenario book, but in general terms:

The Imperialists (C-in-C: Tilly)

5 Tercios (very large!)

10 Cavalry units

1 Light Cavalry unit

 

The Swedish (C-in-C: Gustavus)

5 Infantry brigades

11 Cavalry units

3 Dragoon units

3 Artillery units 

These are slightly modified from the forces in the book.

 

The Set-Up:

The Swedish forces around the bridgehead, the Imperialists facing them (top-left); both sides are expecting reinforcements.

Another view - apologies, some of the shadows weren't too kind to game photos

A closer look at the Swedish bridgehead: two brigades with regimental guns occupy the earthworks; cavalry are on the near side of the river, with the supporting artillery; the Dragoons to the left are in position to ford the Lech here, if necessary (the Lech can be forded to the left of the pontoon, but not the right)

The Imperialists are formed up in two large blocks, one of infantry tercios and the other of Horse, ready to attack the bridgehead; somewhat unusually, a tercio guards the open flank (right), whilst the Light Horse watch the other flank (left)

The Battle:

The Imperial troops lumber forward, subtlety be damned!  The Swedish musketry and artillery fire was less potent than they may have hoped. Swedish Dragoons have forded the Lech and dismounted, ready to  move through the woods (left)

The Swedes are holding on around the emplacements and have pushed the Imperialists back; meanwhile, the first elements of Saxe-Weimar's flanking force have arrived (right)

More of Saxe-Weimar's troops have followed up (right), but Billehe's Imperial cavalry have arrived to challenge them (top-left); Tilly and Aldringer's forces renew their assault on the emplacements, but they haven't broken in yet - and Swedish Dragoons have begun to threaten their flank in the woods (bottom-left)

A wider shot of this stage of the battle

A third (or is it fourth?!?) major Imperial assault goes in - this time, the Swedes waver...

...and break! A foothold at last?

Saxe-Weimar's forces and the Imperial Left Flank have now come to grips in earnest

Meanwhile, Tilly's tercios are still making progress around the pontoon bridge, seeing off some of the Swedish cavalry reserves

The lone Imperial Tercio on the flank has held back the Swedes for a while, but has suffered quite heavy casualties

...and then they break and run!

The Imperialists extemporize some new defences, but their position is very awkward, as well as being somewhat outnumbered

Now that the Imperial infantry have pushed onto the bridge, the Tercios in the rear divert towards the wood, to clear out the Dragoons who have been such a drag on the advance.

The Imperialist Cavalry is simultaneously in deep trouble, and yet hanging on slightly better than one might expect

But that doesn't last for long; however the Imperialists have cleared the far side of the river and have nearly finished off the Dragoons in the wood (left)

But Saxe-Weimar's Horse and Foot are just mopping up the remnants of the Imperialists' left flank; both sides are on the point of imminent collapse!

A fierce cavalry charge holds back an Imperial Tercio by the bank of the river - and the Swedish cavalry have pretty much wiped out everything to the Imperial rear. Suddenly, it is all over - the surviving Imperialists - many in their moment of victory - realize the battle is lost and run!

Game Notes: 

A real nail-biter this one, as both sides had a Wing more-or-less destroyed, but morale would just not collapse for either side!!! It did make it very exciting though for the last few turns of the game, although there was also a sense of nothing else matters, apart from those wing morale rolls!!

I slightly reduced the playing area for this one, to 2'x2' instead of 2.5'x2.5' (in the half-sized battles I play). It worked fine, I simply added a bit of time for when the reinforcements to both sides arrived (two turns, so a force that in the scenario as written would arrive on turn 3 would arrive on turn 5 instead).

I played this one before the recent discussion on the Breitenfeld refight, which usefully clarified a couple of rules' points. I don't think it made too much difference here, except the shape of the Imperial assault may have been somewhat different. Overall, the game played pretty smoothly, although the Swedes do have certain evolutions to go through to maximize their combat effectiveness...although with Gustavus nearby, these are relatively guaranteed to occur (Generalship in this game is mainly reflected through re-rolls).

Tactically I think this battle is really interesting for the Imperial player; the Imperialists can sit tight and fight it defensively or they can take the initiative and attack. On balance, I still think the latter is the way to go, despite it not working in this game - but if Gustavus is reduced to praying for 'Heads' on tail flip, Tilly is probably doing okay. Anyway, a new battle to me, but a very interesting one.

Figures and the pontoon by Baccus, emplacements by Irregular.