The World Turned Upside Down - Real Time Wargames.

Wargames Rules Historical | Real Time Wargames

 

I have to admit that before a certain alert popped into my Wargames Vault account about a ruleset from Real Time Wargames, I'd never heard of them before, which I'm surprised at considering the range or different rules they have to offer covering a wide range of themes and eras from Dark Ages, Wars of the Roses, most Horse and Musket periods, right through to World War One.

It was back in July that I availed myself of a copy of 'The World Turned Upside Down' (TWTUD), which is a complete set of rules for tabletop gaming the AWI in 10mm, whilst also including a campaign system for those tabletop games, and being a map based game in its own right, with the capability to resolve map generated actions with the roll of some dice.

As regular followers of the blog will know, I am an inveterate 'adapter, adopter and improver' of most rule sets I use for my games and I thought I would illustrate some of the ideas I've had for using this product, not as it is, but rather taking what I like about it and tailoring it to my own purposes, whilst perhaps bringing this set of rules and the others that Real Times Wargames have to offer to those like me who hadn't come across them before.

The description of the rules is:

American War of Independence Battlefield Rules & Campaign System
The War for the American Colonies is a fascinating mix of political and military interaction. The strategy of the war is randomised by the orders the British receive each fall, such as Cut-Off New England, Southern Expedition, Occupy coastal locations etc. Thus the frustration of a constantly changing strategic policy with ever fewer troops and a rising French intervention makes for a very challenging campaign system. It is not easy for the Americans either as they have to commit a lot of their operational activity raising troops, collecting supplies and trying to rid themselves of their more incompetent generals. The battlefield rules have a battlefield generator system depending upon where the battle is fought and has a novel non-tape measure means of showing movement to the key battlefield locations.

Contents: There is a 57 page Game Handbook with full Battlefield and Campaign rules. There are Two A3 (or 4 A4) colour maps, 2 A4 pages of Campaign & Battlefield game counters, 3 A4 of battlefield Fate Cards, A4 Operational Chart, A4 Victory Points Chart, 2 x A4 Army Strength Charts and 2 x A4 Playsheets.

The Campaign Map included in TWTUD

There is a system for fighting entertaining one-off battles.

SCALES & BASING

• Ground Scale: Tactical 1” = 25 yards; Grand Scale 1” = 100 yards
• Time Scale: Tactical 1 Turn = 10-15 minutes; Grand Scale 1 Turn = 20-30 minutes
• Table Size: 7 x 5 ft.
• Figure/Base ratio: Figures per base according to pocket. In the rules using 10 mm figures bases have 4 infantry, 3 cavalry or 1 gun and 2-4 crew per base. Tactical Game Ratio is approx. 1:4 to 1:6; Grand Scale Ratio is approx. 1:15 to 1:25.
• Game Length: 3 hours

So TWTUD is a campaign system that also includes a set of rules designed for use with 10mm figures, which is about 18mm too small for my collection, and so was top of my list for changing, once I was familiar with how the system linked up what was happening on the tabletop to what was happening on the map.

The other aspect that struck me, was that this is a paper based system, using counters, a map, and a series of charts to record other aspects of play, something I was keen to avoid if possible, much preferring a digital option with which the state of play could be easily recorded, and thus saving on space taken up with the game and its components, and no chance of parts going missing.

So for me there was obviously a bit of work to do to make what otherwise looked to me to be a very clever system to generate the narrative behind the tabletop encounters it would create, and something I was keen to try out with the necessary tweaks I needed to incorporate.

Of course if none of the issues I've highlighted are a problem for you, then you might really want to check this campaign system out, as is.

CyberBoard

So, the first thing I set about doing was transferring all the hardcopy maps and charts into my digital platform of choice, good old Cyberboard, which is a bit dated these days compared with some more whizzy platforms around today, but for a chap like me, who remembers life before computers and the internet, is a really simple system for transferring stuff like this to my computer, and a very handy campaign tool for the tabletop wargamer.

My Cyberboard version of TWTUD set up for play.

After a bit of cutting and pasting, as well as coming up with some counter graphics I preferred to those included in the rules, I ended up with a screen as seen above, with everything needed to monitor play included in one view.

My altered version of the original map, to include Halifax,
here showing the deployment of the various forces for Fall 1775.

I've since amended the original map by including Halifax - Nova Scotia, to allow the British player the option of withdrawing there from Boston at the close of 1775 to await the reinforcements from England in preparation for a more powerful redeployment in and around New York in the Spring of 1776.

Counter art for my Cyberboard module, with a selection of commanders, a British troop counter, this example worth 500 men and a one strength Fort marker.

With my map and graphics sorted out, I turned my attention to the rules and more precisely the bits I needed to change to better fit my figure collection and the games I wanted to generate with my preferred tabletop rules.

The campaign system will be a familiar one to anyone into boardgames of the AWI with armies created under commanders who are able to move groups of soldiers around the map, dropping off garrisons and bringing the enemy to battle. Alongside these basic mechanics are tables for how to raise militia and continentals for the Americans, reinforcement drafts for the British, and a sort of political framework that governs British strategy and French intervention, according to what stage of the war you are at and how well it is going for either side.

The troop counters carry a number that equates to hundreds of men, and Commanders have a command ability number from 2 to 5 that reflects their ability versus another, the larger the number the better, but also shows how many troops in thousands they can move in an army, thus requiring several commanders grouped together to move a large army in the tens of thousands.

Around this simple system, Commanders and armies will need supplies, the opportunity to build forts and drop off small numbers of troops (500 men) to garrison key positions in their area of operations. The system allows for these forces to be easily translated into tabletop armies when required, and once the combat is over to easily apply any tabletop losses to those counters representing the force on the map.

One of my revised order of battle tables to help randomise the selection of British units to participate in a tabletop game generated by the map moves in TWTUD. The player rolls dice to select units up to the number they are permitted 12 to 18, by rolling on this table, and the others for different factions, dropping excess units, with their choice as to which they will keep.

I wanted to generate actions that would see the weaker side fielding twelve units, not including artillery, in their force, to face an equal or stronger force of anywhere between twelve to eighteen units, the magic 3:2 combination or numbers in between, with the potential to change that to a 2:1 arrangement for games seeing prepared defences involved. The difference between the two forces generated would be by a combination of command abilities of opposing commanders and troop numbers, but up to the maximum ratio difference defined.

Once I have determined how many, and of what types of units are in the order of battle, I have precise unit profiles created for one of my rule sets 'Over the Hills', with American units illustrated here. These profiles will also inform my unit definitions when using my other preferred rules, 'Carnage & Glory'.

As for artillery, TWTUD already has a system for generating the number of guns by type in any given force, and that was similarly converted to my own preferences to fit my new 'Order of Battle' generator.

Advance to Contact determines what sort of tabletop encounter will occur, and this illustration shows my adaptation of the system in TWTUD.

Alongside the force generator, TWTUD has an interesting Advance to Contact system that takes into account the willingness of both sides to offer battle and in what sort of terrain, whilst enabling different types of tabletop battle scenarios to be created, ranging from Ambush, Set-Piece Battle, Meeting-Engagement, Prepared Defence, Coastal Landing and River Crossing. TWTUD has its own system of recreating these different scenarios to fit with the tabletop rules they include with the campaign system, but again I have adapted these types to my own requirements, as illustrated above.

My Cyberboard module makes use of the ideas of Steven Thomas and Peter from Grid Based Wargames, to enable me to construct a table for any given encounter on the map.
Terrain Cards - Random terrain placement for pick up wargames - Steven's Balagan
Grid based wargaming - but not always: ECW Campaign Cards and Terrain Cards
The example on the green table is from Cyberboard, where I have shown a random table created for my 9' x 5' wargames table.

For my tabletop layout I have shamelessly adopted the ideas of Steven Thomas and Peter from Grid Based Wargames and their clever ideas around using terrain squares to randomly create table layouts, but again adapting the system to my own requirements and creating a Cyberboard module, which allows me to randomly select the terrain squares which are numbered 1 to 4 on their reverse side, with a roll of a D4 determining their orientation, before they are turned over to reveal the position of any terrain areas.

As explained in the preamble to this post, TWTUD is a game in its own right with all encounters generated being capable of resolution with a D6, allowing for a very flexible choice in which encounters to game on the table, whilst also allowing me to test my Cyberboard module, which I've been doing during my little trip away from the painting desk.

I'm also hoping to test the campaign game with Steve M. when the opportunity presents to get an idea of player to player interaction with the system versus doing things solo as at present, and also gauging how many, and what sort of encounters each 'Season' of play will likely generate as the war progresses

My solo test of my Cyberboard TWTUD module for the Fall of 1775, this screen capture from the game, with highlights to show what occurred in the moves I made with each force. The areas marked with stars in New York State are those required to be controlled by Howe if he is to score VPs against the British Strategic requirements set by London.

In my solo test game, the British generated 15 Activation Points (AP's) versus 17 for the Americans, with Washington's force before Boston equally distributed to all roads leading to the town to complete a siege against it. In just three moves of play, Burgoyne's force at sea landed in Quebec, providing reinforcements for Carleton to force march and drive Montgomery out of Montreal, with a force of some 8,000 British and German troops, versus the 3,000 American Continentals and Militia.

The resulting Advance to Contact test would have seen a Set Piece Battle, but instead resulted in a small skirmish between Sullivan's rearguard and Riedesel's advance guard with 100 Militia lost as the Americans wisely pulled back, continuing their retreat down Lake Champlain in their subsequent move.

A section of the British Strategic Policy showing it set for 1775-76, but subject to change throughout the game, reflecting the chaotic management of the war by Lord Germain and the King, together with the total absence of security in Government at this time with the American rebels often knowing what was afoot as soon as or before Howe and his commanders. The VP's are crucial in a game system where matters are likely only to become more problematic as the war continues.

Meanwhile Howe decided it was time to leave Boston to land in force before New York, destroying the Militia garrison of 500 men and their hastily raised 1-stregth Fortification, to take control of the city, that leaves the British in control of one of the key areas in New York State they need to sever New England away from the rest of the Colonies, which is British Strategy in 1775-76. 

However all this activity in the first three moves of Fall 1775, plus some necessary supply-foraging expeditions has left the British with just 4 AP's remaining and the Americans, still to play their third turn, sitting on 10 AP's. 

The interesting aspect of this first seasons play is that because the Americans scored more AP's they will have the last move when winter sets in, allowing Washington to plan a winter offensive against any vulnerable British garrisons left to hold the key areas in New York, so the British will have to be very careful in how they spend their remaining AP's, no doubt setting up garrisons and appropriate defences, or settle for taking the hit in VP's and staying secure in Montreal and New York City to await their reinforcements in 1776.

Anyway, I hope this look at TWTUD might whet some appetites for those interested in campaign systems to generate their games. I'm very much focussed at the moment on collection building as recent posts will illustrate, and then I have some historic scenario-games planned to roll the collection out with going forward, but alongside those plans would very much like to use TWTUD to generate more narrative led games that I think TWTUD has to offer.

In the mean time, I'm indulging myself exploring some sites from the Hundred Years War, before getting back to the painting desk, so as always, more anon.

JJ 

Ancient Campaign Plans

Trajan's men construct facilities in preparation for his upcoming campaign into Dacia. Likewise similar activity is going on here at JJ's Wargames with plans and constructions well under way.

The end of a year is always a great time to review progress on projects to date and also to think of things to come. At the moment I am focused on future plans, next week on the run in to Xmas and New Year I will take a bit of time to review progress on current projects.

I recently laid out my ideas on where I plan to take the Napoleonic collection and in that vain of looking ahead I thought you might like to see what I have in mind for the Ancient collection.

The emphasis of JJ's Wargames has since its beginning had a very strong Peninsular War theme and that will continue, but as the title of the blog indicates it is about the wargames I like to play and the periods of history I am particularly interested in and that includes periods and eras outside of Napoleonics and the Peninsular War.

One area I am looking forward to shift more time and development towards is the 28mm Ancients collection that I, and more latterly Tom, have started based on the Hail Caesar Dacian War book of scenarios, and a good start has been made on the Roman collection in terms of painted units. In addition with the arrival of three more boxes of Dacian warriors from Caliver (thank you to Dave Brown and the chaps who have set about sorting my order - great service as always) I will have all the troops ready to paint up for that collection with the addition of some nice terrain items from "Grand Manner" planned to be purchased next year.

Current collection

Romans
1 x Praetorian Legionary Cohort x 20 figures
6 x Legionary Cohorts x 20  - 5 painted
6 x Auxiliary Infantry x 24 - 3 painted
2 x Foedarati Warbands x 40
4 x Auxiliary Archers x 8
2 x Slingers x 8
3 x Scorpion - 1 painted
2 x Numidian Light Cavalry x 10
2 x Auxiliary Cavalry x 10
1 x Praetorian Cavalry x 10

Balance to get
1 x German Light Cavalry x 10
2 x Onager
1 x Ballistae
Some Baggage units

Dacian/Sarmatian
1 x Noble Warband x 40
12 x Warband x 40
4 x Javelin Skirmishers x 8
4 x Archers x 8
1 x Slingers x 8
2 x Scorpio
6 x Cataphracts x 8
6 x Horse Archers x 6
1 x Light Cavalry x 6
2 x German Light Cavalry x 10

Balance
Some Baggage units

DACIAN CAMPAIGN 

The Dacian campaigns of Domitian and Trajan have always held the most interest for me in terms of the barbarian wars fought by the Principate and of the so called barbarian foes faced by the Romans, I think the Dacians with their use of technology and allied Sarmatian cavalry were among the most dangerous opposition when coupled with the "slipperyness" of Decebalus. So much so that Emperor Trajan amassed one of the largest Roman troop deployments to deal with them once and for all.

I am looking forward to getting stuck into the Dacian collection on completion of the Talavera project later next year (that's me controlling the inner little boy who wants to start now!!).

To add further substance to these plans I have sat down and drawn up a Cyberboard mini-campaign to better capture the linked campaign in the Hail Caesar book with a few additions. The map above illustrates the progress the Roman armies must make through and across the Dacian plains and mountains as they attempt to close in on Sarmizegethusa for the final showdown. The markers on the map having randomised scenarios to be played which are revealed when flipped over.

Cyberboard allows for an easy record to be carried forward of the condition of the forces as they progress from one clash to the next by the use of these simple army records that I have plumbed in. These are important to record what units are left to each side after the initial clashes to be able to draw up the final orders of battle.

I have also added in a little mechanism to record individual success by the amount of booty captured in the games played. Not only that but I think most Roman campaigns should have a large element of "prestige" modelled into them. The machismo that typified Roman politics contained a lot of managing public opinion on how the war was going and the booty element helps measure that aspect.

After constructing the Dacian Wars plan I then thought about the next expansion to the collection and the most obvious one would be to build on the small number of German Warbands that can turn up in the Dacian scenarios to be used as a foundation for a collection focussed on the Germania frontier.

GERMANICUS in GERMANIA CAMPAIGN

The Germania frontier is probably the next most attractive campaign setting for me and on acquiring the Hail Caesar Germania Campaign book earlier this year I started to look at the collection needed to play the scenarios from that.

Needless to say the Roman collection will be pretty much done so the units needed will be Germans and mainly warbands.

I wanted to carry on the theme of using my lorica armoured Romans and given the Augustus/Tiberius period was a time of change and it seems likely that the Roman forces were moving away from the chain mail protection used in Gaul, great against slashing cuts from the long Gallic swords to lorica, better able to stand up to German spear thrusts, I decided to opt for looking at the punitive, revenge driven, campaigns of Germanicus and his pursuit of Arminius and the lost Eagles.

I have just about finished off my Germania Cyberboard campaign plan/game as illustrated in the map I have adapted for it, and so the German collection will be put together after the Dacians/Sarmatians to fulfil this plan.

I have been toying with the construction of this project all year, spurred on by "Eager for Glory - The Untold Stories of Drusus the Elder, Conquerer of Germania" by Lindsay Powell which Will got me for my birthday back in the summer and my recent purchase of the Hail Caesar Brittania Campaign book by John Lambshead. I really liked the way he tailored the tribal differences based on the limited sources and the terrain they operated in. I have taken that idea to Germania with the "Watermen" of Frisi, to the cavalry tribes of the Usipeti and Tancteri and the more common "Forest Fiends" found else where. Note I am referring to some definitions here used in Augustus to Aurelian.

The other aspect I wanted to capture was the fact that Arminius strove, desperately at times, to get the tribes to avoid pitched battles that played into the Romans hands. In this he was not always successful and so I have gone for scenario based tabletop battles rather than just sticking the models out any old way. That allows for the "Arminius effect" by having more battle set ups that allow the tribes to fight on home ground using tactics that suit their set up, with the odd scenario or two that will have the Romans licking their lips with anticipation.

Of course any Roman collection worth its salt has to be doubled up as any fan of this period of history knows the Romans spent probably more time killing each other (rather like the Greeks) than they did killing foreign foes.

Inspired by Simon Miller's (Big Red Bat Blog) Cremona game that he ran last year I think, at Salute, I am also planning to add to the Roman collection as we go along to enable some "blue on blue" action whilst trying to keep the odd barbarian incursion at bay.

YEAR OF THE FOUR EMPERORS CAMPAIGN

I like my campaign plans to follow the KIS-KISS principle of Keep it Short and Keep it Simple (not Simplistic - that's the other 'S'). The Year of the Four Emperors is a great period to look at for creating that "Game of Thrones" structure between multiple players with very similar but different armies.

The idea behind my final creation was to take a simple DBA campaign game with its formulaic twelve unit army format and build a more interesting big unit game around it.

The time of the campaign, 69-70 AD allows me a chance of bringing in my barbarian collections that can feature in this short bloody year of struggle as the five factions wrestle to gain supremacy over their former colleagues. It also gives me an excuse to go on and build a twelve unit Parthian and Pictish force over time, and who knows, maybe a few Moorish tribal types to add more variety.

Not only that but the Romans get to play with mobs of hastily raised citizen legionaries and plain old mobs armed with what they turned up with, together with the odd unit of gladiators, not to mention dodgy Praetorians who no one is sure whose side they're on.

I quite like the way Sam Mustafa, another horse and musket man, genericized barbarian and civilized forces for his Aurelian campaign game with the barbarians effectively characterised as spear and shield types or horse and bow types (I'm sure that would have raised howls of complaint from WRG fans a few years ago worried about their double handed cutting weapons versus long thrusting spears, who knows it might still). That principle could work here with the Dacian/Sarmatians standing in for the Parthians temporarily while the latter get added.

As with the Napoleonics, the Ancient collection plans are percolating in the background and has provided hours of pleasurable contemplative thought about future games.

With regard to rule sets, I know what I want and I know what I don't in terms of the look and feel of the game. I have so far put Hail Caesar, and Sword and Spear to the test and in January "Mr Steve" and I will get together to play "Augustus to Aurelian" which from a period specific perspective are spot on. The twelve to twenty unit army in 28mm seems to be the right size for what I want to do.

I like the look of a twenty figure Roman cohort/unit up against a forty figure Dacian/German warband and the scaling down of say three cohorts of legionaries and three of auxiliaries with some cavalry and artillery to represent a legionary army, hence the twelve unit DBA arrangement could work well with the option of adding in the odd unit or two for variety.

So the plan of campaign as far as the next major collection is concerned is pretty well drawn up and, as with the Napoleonics, just a case of playing some scenarios as the collection grows to a point where we can think about other stuff.

As you can see it is all about beginning with the end in mind and remembering that the plan changes on first contact with the enemy.

Isn't this a fantastic hobby?

Army Lists and Other Campaign Ideas!

So now the Peninsular War collection is growing into one that now offers potential to do some more interesting stuff around campaigns and "what if?" scenarios I have been turning my mind back to some of my early ideas around the subject and re-crafting a few of them together. This aspect of the hobby is something I am sure we all dabble in at times; it is the full three course meal of the hobby, providing that all important context to our games and for me is a never ending series of possibilities and something I never tire of playing with. In addition it gives a focus to collection building plans and so I thought I would share my own thoughts.

I was really sorry to see the change of direction decided upon, earlier this year, by the "Napoleon at War" designers to park the Napoleonic project whilst turning their efforts towards the American Civil War. I like many others were looking forward to the release of further campaign books to follow on from the Waterloo release to include the 1813 Campaign and a talked of Peninsular War Campaign book.

I was never one of those who was enthused about turning Napoleonics into tournament play "Flames of War" style gaming, with contrived mechanics to produce a simplistic win/lose style of game often devoid of historical context. That said the lists produced by these design concepts seem ripe for application to a more thoughtful use and can be an aid to scenario design without getting hung up on points balanced games (Wellington and Massena didn't seem to bother much with points and always strove to bring on an unbalanced battle favouring them).

So in the best traditions of "adopt, adapt, improve" I have spent a bit of down time producing my own game lists worked out using Carnage & Glory unit definitions and points and adapting the principle of normal-strength, over-strength and under-strength units which I thought was a very clever mechanic to allow gamers to produce standard looking units that model these characteristics without having to use different bases combined with multiple combinations of numbers of figures.

The idea of applying points to units has its supporters and detractors and I think the idea has its place more for guiding the wargamer who wants to create historically based formations than those who are more interested in "power-gaming" and creating "uber-armies". When the historical principle is applied to the grand campaign model, points can allow interesting scenarios to be created around a limited number of figures that can give a game context and enable the tabletop battle to be translated back into the campaign situation. In addition as we are talking about a campaign situation, we are not concerned with "game balance" as just like their historical counterparts, both opposing commanders will be striving to maximise or minimise the advantages of the their position versus the opposition. Obvious one sided contacts can be dealt with on the map, but the larger more interesting contacts can be constructed using the lists and fought out on the table.

Earlier this year I picked up a copy of the revised edition of "L'Empereur Napoleonic Strategic Game" rules by Albert Walton, that offers the chance to play your Napoleonic table top games within the wider scope of a major grand campaign such as the Peninsular War, very much in the mode of a Battlefront "Firestorm" WWII campaign.

I have long toyed with the idea of bringing Mr Walton's campaign game together with the army lists of Napoleon at War and the game mechanics of Carnage & Glory (C&G) and see what hybrid monster I could create by mixing up their respective DNA.

The lists above are some of the early drafts of formats to include the French, French Allies and Spanish and the map below shows my adaptation of the L'Empereur map for the Peninsular War campaign module plugged into Cyberboard. The various flag pieces show the different army groups dotted around the peninsular in June 1808 with Dupont's "doomed" expedition down in Granada (Hex G4) and Junot's tenuous and out of supply hold on Lisbon (Hex I2), with the Spanish held fortresses of Cuidad Rodrigo (Hex I3) and Badajoz (Hex H2) sealing him off from the other French forces clearly standing out, together with the supply rout from France via the other French controlled hexes and those closest able to take a waggon marker among those mountains soon to be crawling with guerrillas.

The forces yet to enter the stage are shown with the French allies gathering in Bayonne (Hex K5) and Perpignan (Hex K6) together with Napoleon and his Guard set to arrive in September and the British under Wellesley and Sir John Moore set up to arrive in August and October respectively. The former French allies in the form of the Spanish army groups can be seen gathering their strength following the Madrid uprising in May with the large armies under Blake (Hex K3) and Castanos (Hex G4) looking to pose the first threat to the extended elements of the French invasion force. The map encounters generated would then be ready to be translated into a tabletop clash using the lists above and C&G.

My forces are not yet complete with the Talavera collection set to enable most of the formations shown above to be modelled as required, and Bassecourt's regular Spanish division together with Albuquerque's Cavalry will provide a good core of figures to field the Spanish, leaving the Portuguese and some French allied formations (Italian & Neopolitans) to be built next year on the completion of the Talavera project.

One other idea I am toying with is to include an "events" process to add that little spice of un-predictability. The L'Empereur module sets up troop levels with withdrawals and reinforcements based on the historical record and it provides a simple campaign engine if a bit too predictable. The addition of some limited theatre level events could add a little more variation for players to deal with.

So my Napoleonic Grand Campaign ideas are gently percolating behind all the big battle mini campaign stuff, just as it should be, plus I have been putting together some "adopt, adapt, improve" paper based rules for those days when I haven't got the lap top to hand; but that as they say is another story for another post.

D Day - 70th Anniversary

Today is the 70th anniversary of the greatest naval invasion the world has ever seen and for me, the son of a former member of the British 21st Army, it is very moving to hear the memories of the last surviving veterans.

My father landed on D+4 as a member of the advanced party of Guards Armoured Division and I remember his vivid descriptions of the beachhead when he arrived in Normandy and the later battles of the campaign.

With the passing years and with fewer veterans still surviving, my Dad passed away in 2003, the likelihood is that this will be the last significant commemoration of a campaign that dramatically changed the course of WWII and the history of our world today.

My blog since its beginning back in December 2012 has had a strong theme around the Peninsular War as a period that I have chosen to focus on for the foreseeable future.

Prior to it I had spent the previous three years building up a large collection of WWII Normandy forces for my own home brewed WWII rules and latterly IABSM. Those figures have taken a "back seat" in recent times but were regularly featured in games that I reported on the Devon Wargames Group Blog.

With the importance of today's commemoration, I thought I would pay my tribute to the events of seventy years ago by highlighting those postings that were part of a campaign run back in 2010 and that is still to be completed, and will be returned to later. As the map shows we had all the beaches to fight except Utah in the first turn.

So first up, the battles for the beaches beginning with Juno

The landing on Juno Beach

Juno Nan Red AAR

The second game featured Bloody Omaha

No quarter asked or given on Omaha

Omaha Easy Green AAR

The third game was fought out on Sword beach

Solid landing on Sword

Sword Queen Red AAR

And last but not least, Gold

The first breach made on Gold

Gold Jig Green AAR

The position at the end of D Day

War Games and Flamingos in Spain

This week we are taking a short break in Murcia in Spain. We have had a house down there for a few years now and it is a lovely part of the world to relax in prior to getting together with family and friends over Christmas.

While I am away the painting goes on hold, and with no Internet access in the house my ability to communicate on the net is slightly limited. The good news is that the nearby bar has complimentary Internet access and so I can catch up on things every now and then, whilst sipping their very nice hot chocolate.

Much fun was had at the Devon Wargames Group last Saturday as we held our annual Christmas Big Game, a “King James vs King Billy Beneath the Lilly Banners Match Up” with Chas and Vince fielding their 28mm collections and everyone in the club taking part. The rules are very good, capturing the feel of that particular early horse & musket era and allowing a large game like that to run along easily with players unfamiliar with them soon able to get competent with the system. I have toyed with the idea of building some War of Spanish Succession (WSS) forces and these rules would be very much top of my list. I managed to post a full report of the game with many pictures taken of the toys. My role in the game was not insignificant as I assumed the role of traitor to Prince William’s cause and succeeded in completely messing up the left flank and centre of his lines.

My cavalry fight each other in our club game last Saturday. See the report to find out why.

Whilst away I like to take the enforced time away from the paint desk to play with other war game ideas and to read generally. I have been playing with another computer rules set, “The Great Captains” by Computer Strategies designed by Mr Clinton Reilly. The rules cover the early to mid horse & musket era (WSS, Seven Years War, AWI) and as with his other period sets come with a campaign system. 

It is the campaign system that Clinton is looking to upgrade and has invited mine and others feedback on changes he has incorporated and will add based on that feedback. It is early days at the moment but I did set up and run solo a little campaign based on operations around Boston in 1775 as General Gage et al attempted to maintain the city as a base for future operations against the rebels. With the said rebels attempting to grab sites around the city to set up gun positions for batteries using cannon captured from the British at Fort Ticonderoga. A good test of the system as I had little garrisons of minute men set up in the small towns together with an American field army and the British in Boston trying to ferry troops out to different areas to secure high ground overlooking the city.

The program allows the player to paste a copy of any map he wishes to use and, with the help of a grid superimposed on to it, define particular areas of terrain, flat plain, hilly, mountains, sea and swampy. These terrain definitions impact on supply and movement. In addition supply depots of various sizes and defence can be identified allowing for bases of operation to be set up. However these definitions would benefit from additions and my play test this week, and the notes I made confirm this and when I can get near an Internet access I will copy off my notes to Clinton.

My mini campaign map that I have been trying things out with

In addition to “The Great Captains”, I have taken a mini campaign system made available on the net by Bruce McFarlane Bob Barnetson which using their fast play rules for the AWI “Two for Tea” allows players to pre manoeuvre the armies at Brandywine prior to setting up the table top battle. I have always fancied using this set up but with my own rules. In addition, rather than a paper based map and counters, I have put the whole thing into Cyberboard to keep things much easier to use and will make it available as a download in my collection of freebies. 

The Brandywine campaign map for Cyberboard

As with our break in the summer to Sri Lanka, I thought you might like to see some pictures of the area and wildlife, as this part of Spain is really beautiful and a popular holiday destination. At this time of year the coastal salt flats are home to some amazing bird life, including visitors from Africa. We were lucky to find these Flamingos the other day, happy to ignore us as we took these pictures. It’s great to see them in the wild and particularly when they are in flight as they must be the most ungainly bird you will ever see in the air with the large floppy wing span and trailing legs counter balanced by a beak that looks just a little bit too big.

A little bit of winter sun in Murcia, Spain

Keeping warm on the beach

The flamingos were doing what they do best, eating and looking cool. I couldn't help thinking about the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland about to play croquet, whilst photographing these guys.

It's my birthday, and I got some presents.

This was the news the year I was born, so I'm now on 53 not out.

Today is sunny and warm in my part of Devon and I am planning to be down on the beach with friends and family, eating fish and chips, then retiring to the bar at the local cricket club. That's what birthdays are all about.

This morning I got some fantastic presents that I thought I'd share with you, all of which I have only dipped into so far but will be giving more considered thoughts about in later posts.

I got into the Jack Tanner books a few years ago with the first novel set in Norway in 1940. These books are "ripping yarns" very much in the style of the Sharpe books and written by a historian, James Holland, who really knows his stuff when it comes to WWII. I've got two teenage sons queueing up to read this one so I guess it will get first attention.

I had "Wellington against Junot" on my list for a while, especially with my recent gaming in mind. Strictly speaking the book should have been Wellesley against Junot, as Sir Arthur didn't get the Viscount Wellington title until after Talavera the following year. Looking forward to getting into this book and the follow up, versus Massena.

I know Robert Burnham's work is invaluable when it comes to studying the Peninsular War so I rather felt this had to be on the book shelf and should give good insight to a topic not well covered in the English language. Again looking forward to getting into this book.

And last, but by no means least, "The Flight of the Eagle 3", just when you thought you knew every thing about Napoleonic campaigning, the ultimate research tool/game system comes along. This module 3 includes all the campaigns from the previous two plus the Peninsular War which really fired my interest.

Needless to say I've been a little bit distracted by this baby this morning, more to follow, but if you've never seen it before I've put a couple of links below that will tell you more.

http://didier-rouy.webs.com/productpage.htm

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/21915/le-vol-de-laigle