2/63e Regiment de Ligne

1/63e Regiment de Ligne

The 63e Regiment de Ligne made its début in the Peninsular War in January 1808 when the regiment provided a battalion as part of the 2nd Provisional Ligne Regiment in Marshal Moncey's French Corps d'observation des Cotes de l'Ocean. The corps crossed the border into Spain on the 8th January in the wake of Dupont's 2nd Corps d'Observation de la Gironde as the two forces surreptitiously took control of the main road from Bayonne to Burgos and Valladolid in preparation for a move on Madrid.

French Corps d'observation des Cotes de l'Ocean, l January l808  - Source Oman
Commanding Officer: Marechal Moncey
Chief of Staff: General de brigade Harispe
lst Division: General de division Musnier
lst Brigade: General de brigade Brun
2nd Provisional Ligne Regiment
24th Line Infantry Regiment (l)(6/548)
34th Line Infantry Regiment (l)(9/48l)
44th Line Infantry Regiment (l)(l0/570)
63rd Line Infantry Regiment (l)(8/480)

The activities of Moncey's Corps were covered in my post on the 2/45e Ligne, see the link below.

2/45e Regiment de Ligne

Post Dos de Mayo and Bailen and Napoleon's reorganisation of his army in preparation for his second invasion of Spain this time without any pretence of anything other than occupation of the country and usurpation of the Spanish throne by his brother Joseph; the three battalions of the 63e Ligne found themselves part of Marshal Victor's I Corps d'Armee, in General de Division Villatte's 3rd Division, brigaded with the 27e Legere under General de Brigade Pacthod.

General de Brigade Michel-Marie Pacthod

French Army in Spain, 15th November 1808 - Source Oman
I Corps: Maréchal Victor
3rd Division: Général de division Villatte
Brigade: Général de brigade Pacthod
27th Légère Regiment (3)(50/1,527)
63rd Line Regiment (3)(44/1,246)
Brigade: Général de brigade Puthoc
94th Line Regiment (3)(54/1,627)
95th Line Regiment (3)(47/1,428)
Artillery:
7/1st Foot Artillery
6/8th Foot Artillery
8th Artillery Artisan Company

The regiment was in action on the 10th-11th November at the Battle of Espinosa when Spanish General Blake and his 25,000 strong Spanish army was turned out of its position above the town by Lapisse's flank attack causing the Spanish to loose half their force in the retreat despite only suffering about 3,000 casualties in the battle.

Victor's Corps was in the vanguard of Napoleon's army that forced its way through the Somosierra pass and into Madrid with the 1st and 3rd Divisions destined to support King Joseph's hold on the city as the Emperor set off in pursuit of Sir John Moore and his British army as it retreated into Galicia and its snow clad mountains.

The 63e Ligne would next see action at the Battle of Ucles on the 30th November 1808 as Victor turned his depleted corps on the growing threat of the re-organising Spanish Army of the Centre under the Duke of Infantado with 20,000 men around Cuenca, south east of Madrid.

Victor was able to surprise the vanguard of Infantado's army under General Venegas at Ucles, with both forces totalling about 13,500 men.

Whilst Latour Maubourg's dragoon division pinned the Spanish centre supported by Pacthod's brigade, the Spanish line was turned by Puthod's and later Ruffin's brigades causing the Spanish to lose 1,000 men killed and nearly 6,000 captured along with four guns.

With the threat to Madrid from Infantado's force neutralised, Victor turned his attention to the next one, that of General Cuesta's Army of Estremadura, hovering south of the River Tagus close to Badajoz.

The two armies came to grips on the 28th March 1809 outside the town of Medellin on the River Guadiana.

General Villatte's division held the centre of the French line with Ruffin's troops in reserve. The French cavalry under Generals Latour Maubourg  and Lasalle held the flanks between the Rivers Guadiana and Ortigo.

The two lines advanced on each other with both French and Spanish cavalry being repulsed by the others infantry in failed charge attempts. Eventually the Spanish cavalry lived up to its reputation of fleeing at the critical moment leaving the Spanish infantry line to be rolled up by Lasalle's cavalry.

The Spanish lost nearly 8,000 men with a further 2,000 captured along with thirty guns from a force of 24,000 men.

The French victory was to prove a hollow one as Victor, down to two infantry divisions, felt his army was to weak to push after Cuesta and over the Portuguese border despite the urgings from King Joseph in Madrid.

Holding his position at Caceres became untenable as with the country stripped of supplies and with little food coming from Madrid, his men began to starve forcing the French to move north into the Tagus valley and a rendezvous with the detached 2nd Division, before falling back to Talavera.

The 63e Ligne had enjoyed a string of successful battles since it entered Spain back in November the previous year, and with the move to Talavera they could only feel confident as they prepared to meet the Anglo-Spanish allies in July 1809.

My 2/63e Ligne are composed of figures from the AB range with the fanion from GMB flags.

I Ain't Been Shot Mum at Devon Wargames Group

German armour taking a battering in yesterday's game

If it's the second Saturday in the month you will generally find me having a good time at the monthly meeting of the Devon Wargames Group.

Yesterday I staged the scenario that appeared in the Too Fat Lardies Xmas Special 2007 that covered the VC winning action of Lance Sergeant John Baskeyfield, Anti-Tank Gun Commander with the 2nd Staffordshire Battalion, 1st British Airborne Division.

If you want to see how the battle turned out and the history behind it then just follow the link to the post on the club blog
http://devonwargames.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/baskeyfield-vc-i-aint-been-shot-mum.html

I don't play IABSM regularly since I shifted my attention away from WWII and on to Napoleonics just over two years ago. However with a large collection of late war NW Europe collection of 15mm WWII troops, it is a rule set I keep coming back to.

I like and have played several games of Chain of Command, but I think the next level up scale of IABSM appeals to me more and I really enjoy the card driven aspect of its play that always has the knack of generating those very special moments of high drama that make a game live long in the memory.

I was also pleasantly surprised how quickly we all picked up the mechanics of the game as it rolled along seamlessly with seemingly little effort and great attention to the tactics needed and only the occasional glance at the rule book to clarify a situation; this very much in line with the Lardy ethos of playing the period and not the rules.

To keep the reference checking to a minimum I gathered all the scenario relevant information for both sides onto one piece of paper each that told the players everything they needed about the scenario, its objectives and the forces involved with their various equipment and weapon stats.

This idea seemed to work rather well and by adding a picture of the various counters to my counter box lid I found it a lot easier to pick the appropriate marker as the game went along

The scenario is a real gem and one well worth playing if you are that way inclined. More information can be found on the DWG blog post.

Cataclysm: 90BC - The Forgotten War that Almost Destroyed Rome, Philip Matyszak

A "Mr Steve" Book Review

This is a book I was looking forward to reading, it is written by an author I like and it also covers one of my favourite periods. Philip Matyszak’s writing style is easy to read and he always gets the story across very well plus along the way he sprinkles in tiny amounts of humour hidden amongst some of his turns of phrase. If I think of all the periods of Roman history, the Late Republican era is one of the most interesting, there is always something going on with those wicked Romans and we are fortunate in that there is a reasonably good range of ancient sources available, relatively speaking of course.

After the end of the 2^nd Punic War in 201BC the Romans then spent the next one-hundred and thirty years or so gradually conquering most of the land around the Mediterranean; before the Punic Wars Rome had a very parochial attitude with virtually no interest in anything outside of Italy unless it affected them directly, now after two hard wars things were different, they started to go out and actively meet new peoples who lived in strange far away lands and then pinch all their stuff. Combine this glorified looting with the Roman hobby of doing in your colleagues back home then it gets very interesting indeed.

This book covers a particularly strange war set in Italy, on one side are the Romans, which means Rome itself and its colony cities, and on the other side are the Italians (i.e. everyone else). Now this is the strange bit. The Italians reason for fighting was that they actually wanted to become Roman, and the Romans, or we should really say the Roman aristocracy didn't want them to. The same group of families had run Rome for centuries, they had complete control of the Senate, lots of money and increased their land holdings every year, life was good, as for the rest, well they had the vote but it didn't really matter as that had been stitched up as well.

However the people who had to do the actual fighting were getting more and more disgruntled, especially the Italians who were getting none of the rewards, the poor wanted land, to have the vote and come under Roman legal protection, the rich wanted into the Senate. Coincidentally, the Roman equites (Knights) who were the next rung down from the Senators wanted to move up that last rung so as to get their share of the good life and so there was a nasty little political struggle going on inside Rome at the same time. The aristocracy on the other hand really didn't want any new members whether they came from the rest of Italy or from the Equites sharing in the goodies so that was right out, to be honest giving the Italian poor what they wanted wasn't that much of a concern to them, after all, how many would take the trouble to go all the way to Rome to vote, and as for land, well they would just continue to steal it from them just like they did from the Roman poor.

Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus

That’s the background for this book and it forms the core of the story; what Matyszak has done is to bolt on to either side of this conflict two more stories.

The first third of the book outlines most of what I have said above in greater depth along with key events happening overseas that with hindsight, will become part of the catalyst. This was the war with Jugurtha in North Africa which was an utter shambles; there was military embarrassment, obscene bribery and we see the rise of Marius and Sulla (more of them later). Meanwhile back at Rome he runs through the rise of the Gracchi brothers, among others, and their attempts to force through various changes in how Rome was run (in their favour of course) using the Tribune powers. The Italian tribes latched onto anyone that would espouse their cause but their hopes were constantly dashed with each successive failure/brutal murder. In the end they ran out of patience and so resorted to the only thing remaining and declared war on Rome.

Roman Infantry - 1st Century BC

The middle section covers the fighting which really only lasts a few years, the Italians had been plotting for just this event in case things didn't work out on the political side and were trying to get everyone ready to go at the same time, when the crunch came the plan was for war to kick off in spring 91BC when their scheming could be hidden by the yearly troop levy, but a combination of rumours and un-related troop movements spooked one of the cites to jump the gun towards the end of 90BC and it all became a bit messy.

In summary, the Italians besieged the Roman colony cities and when the Roman armies came to relieve them, promptly defeated them all. The war was one defeat after the other for the Romans until the Senate won the war by belatedly giving in to all the Italian tribe’s original demands. 

Unfortunately a few bridges had been well and truly burned by then especially by the Samnites and whilst most of the Italians now made peace, they tried to fight on. (It doesn't end well).

Here we move into the third part of the book, which sees the beginning of the end for the Republic. What I mean by this is that it suddenly dawned on a few generals that their soldiers, once loyal to the state had stopped being mere farmers who went home after campaigning (mainly because the rich had nicked all their farms) and that their loyalty had switched to whichever General would get the best deal for them either in new land or gold. So we see first Marius then Sulla, then Marius again and, well you can see were this is going, marching on Rome and “stabilising “the city; as each of them took control a great number of people became very stable indeed in a non-moving sort of way only this time it was mostly the rich aristocracy, who to be honest, got what they deserved for being such pig-headed idiots.

A little of the Mithradtic wars is also included mainly as it ignites the Marius v Sulla conflict, (I recommend “Mithridates the Great” also by Matyszak for this conflict) he covers well the whole Marius and Sulla period in sufficient detail to satisfy and then closes off with explaining the effects of various decisions and how they may or may not have prevented what was to come. The future players like Pompey and Julius Caesar make their first appearances, but that’s another book.

I liked it,

I had already read both the Jugurthine wars and Marius and Sulla from the free version of Plutarchs Lives that you can find online so I knew that part of the story quite well but I don’t think this really matters if you are coming to it fresh. The only thing I would say is that the book isn't very long as its main topic, the Italian/Roman war, only lasts about a year and there isn't much in the way of in-depth battle reports passed down to us that could be available for analysis.

Readable pages: 166

Priced at £19.99

Best Price I found today was: £12.65  

Cardboard Campaigns and Metal Melees Blog - Carnage & Glory AWI 1777 Project

Sir William Howe - 1777

If like me you have come to appreciate the delights of Carnage & Glory II and have been following the progress of Sir Arthur Wellesley's career here on JJ's and can't get enough of this stuff can I suggest you might want to check out Jan Spoor's blog, where you will be able to follow the progress of Sir William Howe and his 1777 Philadelphia Campaign using the AWI variant of C&G following a similar format to the scenarios and games staged here on JJ's.

http://cardboardandmetal.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/a-new-project-at-cardboard-caserne-1777.html

I love the AWI/American Revolution, which in many ways had a huge impact on the development of the British army and the way it would fight in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic period providing as it did invaluable experience that enhanced the steadiness of British infantry and its formidable reputation for use of fire-power and bayonet; with the evolution of the two rank open order line and the light infantry tactics that would inform officers such as Sir John Moore who served in America and would be a key founder of the Light Infantry training centre at Shorncliffe and the famous Light Division.

Night Attack at Paoli Tavern

The 1777 campaign is a great one to focus on with some major battles, Brandywine and Germantown and you could conclude with the Battle of Monmouth the following year. In addition there are some very interesting small scale actions like the Battle of Paoli Tavern. The armies involved are some of the largest fielded during the war with some very interesting units and commanders and both armies, with the Americans in particular, developing their tactics and skills after the initial clashes of the war culminating with the arrival of von Steuben and the improved discipline and drill regulations for Continental troops that really make this one of the most interesting periods to look at.

Rogers Rangers

Formed in the winter of 1755 from units based at Fort William Henry and commanded by the then Captain, later Major Robert Rogers, Rogers Rangers became one of the iconic units of the Seven Years War fought between Great Britain and France in their struggle to dominate the early colonies of North America and Canada.

Initially forming one company, the unit operated around the Lake George, Lake Champlain area of New York sometimes deep behind French lines raiding towns and military encampments; often ignoring the military tradition of retiring to winter quarters by launching raids that ambushed French forces twice in January 1757 and March 1758 at the first and second Battle of the Snowshoes.

The usefulness of the Rangers was recognised in that the unit was expanded to two then four companies in that time and by early 1758 had expanded to fourteen companies of around 12-1400 men and operating with Indian allies were able to take the war into the French controlled territories.

The tradition of daring attacking light forces lives on today in the American armed forces with the establishment of WWII US Ranger companies that carry the heritage of these men into the modern forces of today.

These figures are part of Steve M's growing collection of French Indian War figures, many of which have featured on this blog over the years. I love the period and the scale and it's nice to break up my own project work by helping friends with theirs, and I get to play with them as well.

The picture that heads up the post gives the look I was striving for and I think they will make a nice addition to the collection.

After my little excursion into the French Indian War, it's back to the Peninsular War and the Talavera Campaign with the 2/63e Regiment de Ligne up next.

The Effectiveness of 18th Century Musketry

There has been a very interesting thread running on the Carnage & Glory Yahoo group this week discussing the effectiveness of musketry and British musketry in particular.

Carnage and Glory Conversations-Topics

During the conversation a link was posted to this rather interesting video looking at British musketry during the AWI period, but with many aspects still relevant to the Napoleonic period as well.

I think C&G really models this aspect very well and I have quoted Nigel Marsh, the author of the rules, where he comments below and explains the C&G pace conversion for the ranges in yards quoted in the video. It's a short presentation, but gives a really good idea of the effectiveness, or not, of the smooth bore musket, in this case in the hands of men trained in the use of the weapon as British professional redcoats would have been, with a recreated simulation of battlefield conditions. Spare a thought for the more common conscripted soldier who barely knew which end to load the weapon that alone how to aim and fire a live round.

".......... the ranges being used in the video are in yards - so these would translate as follows when compared to paces in the system: [The British pace was actually 30". The 27" I use is an average of the numerous pace lengths used by different nationalities]

200 yards = 266 paces at 27" per pace 

100 yards = 133 paces

75 yards = 100 paces, and

50 yards = 67 paces

The break point within the system for the smoothbore flintlock of this period is 75 paces - basically, you're either below or above that distance for effectiveness. The closer you are the better your results.

Anything beyond 200 paces and the system considers it beyond maximum [effective] range. 

I've always argued that at certain ranges the firing unit will actually incur more damage to itself than the opponent.

You can inflict one or two casualties on the enemy at long range, and 50 plus casualties at 75 paces, but the firing unit will lose ammunition and fatigue at the same rate in both cases - so why waste ammunition and your own fatigue levels at the longer ineffective ranges [if you don't have to]."

For the novice player of C&G understanding when and when not to open fire is really important and I have seen a strong line crumple because fire was commenced too early causing ineffectual casualties to the target and unnecessary fatigue and disorder to the firer, whilst conversely, a player able to hold their nerve and one who can rely on their troops to hold theirs can deliver a devastating volley that can stop an attack in its tracks. 

When you add in Napoleonic combined arms tactics of skirmish screens, close support artillery and cavalry you start to see why this period can become addictive.

Crusade 2016 - Penarth & District Wargames Society Show

Yesterday I spent a very pleasurable day in sunny, yes I did say "sunny" Cardiff, which is never the best of weather to enjoy a day in doors looking at wargames and other related subjects, but it did add to the pretty view of Penarth marina as we got close to the venue for Crusade 2016.

http://www.penarthwargames.co.uk/crusade/crusade-2016-wargames-show/

I love spending time with friends and visiting shows and having had "Crusade" on my "must check it out" list for several years took the opportunity to go with Steve M and "Mr Steve" who has Cardiff as his adopted home - so no need of the sat nav as he is almost local.

Along with Mr Steve, we have several members in the club who have ties to South Wales and regularly attend Crusade and based on their comments, I was really looking forward to going.

In addition the Penarth club also organise presentations from notable guest speakers on various wargame/historical related subjects and so with copies of the speakers books in the bag I was also looking forward to hearing Dr Adrian Goldsworthy, Robert Jones and Gareth Glover speak on ancient, medieval and Napoleonic related subjects

The main sports hall given over to a very good selection of traders and display/demo games

We arrived about 11.30am and with about an hour to spend before the first speaker presentation took the time to wonder around the show.

As well as picking up some 28mm 4Ground mdf Roman and Celtic wagons, together with some oxen, brass rod spears and wagon loads appropriate for the period, I also took the time to photograph the games that caught my eye.

First up was this rather nice 28mm AWI period, Battle of Hobkirks Hill using mainly Perry miniatures and I believe the Perry rule set. My apologies to the organisers, but I couldn't see a reference to who was putting this game on, but it certainly looked very nice and caught my attention almost immediately on entering the hall.

A very nice rendition of the AWI battle "Hobkirk Hill". No teddy bears were hurt in the production of the game

The next game that I immediately gravitated towards was this excellent 28mm LRDG raid on a German airfield game presented by Major Brothers. I loved the modelling and attention to detail.

Major Brothers Demo Game - LRDG Raid on a German Airfield

Next up was Richard Clark and the Too Fat Lardies presentation and participation game of Sharp Practice 2 with an ACW theme. I love the range of games offered by the Lardies and the principles that underpin their games. I haven't played Sharp Practice as I don't play a lot of skirmish games, being a "Grand Manner" kind of gamer, but I have my eye on some Peninsular War Napoleonic minor actions that I would like to play and Sharp Practice 2 are on my radar to try out, so it was fun watching the game unfold yesterday.

Richard Clarke of Too Fat Lardies running a participation game of the new Sharp Practice 2 set in the ACW. The editor of Wargames Soldiers and  Strategy Magazine, Mr Guy Bowers passes the table in a blur - so much to do, so little time!

I haven't spent much time looking at the Battlefront activities since I turned my attention from 15mm WWII to Napoleonics and the launch of Team Yankee has rather passed my by so it was fun to see the 15mm models from their range painted and on display at yesterday's show.

As you would expect from Battlefront the models look very nice and well proportioned and seem to capture the look of the period very well. Not for me, but as a wargamer and modeller I can always appreciate a nice looking range of models.

Some of the new Team Yankee models from Battlefront

And so with my tour of the tables complete, I joined the two Steve's to settle down to listen to the first speaker of the day, Gareth Glover who has published a large selection of books using original often previously unpublished first hand accounts from British observers of campaigns ranging from Egypt to Waterloo.

Gareth's work adds to the knowledge base we have for these campaigns and associated battles and from the first hand accounts quoted can often de-bunk some of the myths about how they unfolded and provide a basis for further research.

Crusade-2016 Guest Speakers

Gareth Glover - Presented his thoughts about "Strategy and Battle Tactics at Waterloo".
Not a great picture as I was using my IPad for taking notes and grabbed this photo as Gareth was introduced

Waterloo material forms a significant part of Gareth's work and having spent a fair bit of time researching my own visit last year, I was really interested to hear, as he described it, his personal thoughts based on the research he has done and his conclusions about the strategy and tactics of the armies involved.

Some of the highlights I noted during the presentation were the following points, although I would stress this is my interpretation of Gareth's presentation taken from my hastily tapped out notes on my IPad and translated here. Any errors are mine not his;

• Although we are not entirely clear on the discussions had between Blucher and Wellington on the precise nature of their initial set up for the coming campaign, it is more and more clear that Wellington was centred on the line of Nivelle, Braine le Compte out to Oudenarde covering his LOC to Ghent/Brussels and Antwerp and with Blucher on Ciney Namur, Ligny covering his LOC to Liege. The Prussians always planned to use Ligny as a concentration point and that Quatre Bras didn't figure in either allied army's plan as point of importance - Napoleon's central position move would soon change that.
• Questions about the suitability of Wellington's choice of the Waterloo battlefield given its position in front of the Soignes Forest are unfounded given the numerous roads passing through the forest as illustrated on an 18th C map presented. The forest was thick enough to prevent passage through it other than by the many roads and Wellington's plans, should his army fail to hold the ridge was to leave garrisons along the routes from Pappelotte to Braine L'Alleud to impede the French long enough to allow his army to fall back through the forest.
• Hougoumont is often described as the allied right flank but when the other forces including Hill's II corps are included it can be seen that it occupies the centre of the allied line and was thus of even more importance as a position to be held to protect the forces in that vicinity, with Glover citing the difficulties suffered by allied troops near to La Haye Sainte (LHS) when that position fell in the late afternoon.
• The attack of D'Erlon's corps was discussed, with Glover's assertion that he considers the French guns were not formed in a typical "Grand Battery" and that they were sited to support their respective divisions, moving forward to the central ridge to close attack the allied line as the infantry moved into the dip in the ground. He believes the hedge line used by the allied infantry was a particularly formidable barrier to the infantry and certainly held up D'Erlon's men before they were struck by the British heavy cavalry. Once attacked the line in column formation impeded any attempt to form square although it seems that the rear lines my well have formed emergency square  and were ignored by the cavalry as they charged on to the French gun line.
• The French cuirassiers on the far side of LHS supporting D'Erlon's men were disorganised when they attacked allied infantry in line moving to support the farm and the cuirassiers were in turn attacked by the British Household cavalry who after passing behind LHS swung to their left to support the Union Brigade attack on the French guns.

Gareth Glover Collection

Gareth had a lovely collection of Waterloo medals on display that I grabbed some pictures of at the end of the presentation

• GG believes from accounts that the often used explanation that the French cavalry attack in the afternoon was a mistake by Ney is not correct and that Napoleon, in his pulling in of all his cavalry reserves from his right flank together with his Guard units to support the attack intended an Eylau style massed cavalry assault to break the allied line. In other words, Ney was a scape goat for the Emperor's failed plan.
• During the French cavalry attack it seems that many of the British gun batteries withdrew behind the infantry squares and reformed near the allied cavalry lines, Mercer's battery being a notable exception. Although the gunners were ordered to leave their guns and seek shelter with the infantry squares, there appears to be little evidence to support this happening.
• GG can find little evidence to support the idea that British light cavalry units did much to impede or disrupt their French opposites and in the main kept out of the fighting around the squares.

• There seems to be little evidence to show that the French were aware of the Prussian advance on their right flank until Lobau's men "bumped" the Prussian advance guard in the mid afternoon. No attempts were made to defend the right flank with precautions such as loop-holing Plancenoit for defence.
• The final pursuit of the broken French army from the battlefield was not without problems as many of the pursuing Prussians were desperately short of ammunition and their is evidence of British ammunition wagons and caissons being sent over to quickly resupply the Prussian troops.
• The final march on Paris could well have proven more contested had the French had the ability to sufficiently garrison the thirteen fortresses between the city and Waterloo as illustrated on map presented.

The points highlighted provided plenty of scope for further conversation at the end of the presentation and I thoroughly enjoyed the discussion they provoked afterwards.

In addition I had the current book I am reading, namely Gareth's "From Corunna to Waterloo" illustrating letters giving first hand accounts of two 15th Hussar officers, with me and the author kindly autographed my edition.

My copy of "From Corunna to Waterloo" autographed by the author

When I have finished the read I will share my thoughts with a review.

Next up we had a very entertaining and informative presentation by Adrian Goldsworthy and Robert Jones

Dr Adrian Goldsworthy, Ancient Historian and Novelist

Bloodied Banners - Martial Display on the Medieval Battlefield, Robert Jones

Adrian Goldswothy (pictured) together with Robert Jones presented their thoughts on the
main kind of battle in ancient and medieval warfare - The raid and the skirmish battle 

Adrian and Robert presented a very compelling argument that based on the historical record, we wargamers spend a disproportionate amount of time focused on the "Big Battle" which were comparatively rare events compared with the favoured and more common approach to warfare of this period, namely the raid/counter raid and the low level skirmish warfare this kind of activity generated.

This imbalance in the wargaming approach to the subject has lead to a limited number of skirmish rule sets in comparison to the many more "Big Battle" rule sets.

One aspect that often gets overlooked by we wargamers is that in the 21st century we take for granted that we know where places are in relation, one to another. The ancient, medieval commander was often not so well informed  and thus raiding was a very specialised form of warfare in that prior reconnaissance was vital to determine the target, how to get there and importantly how to get back, returning safely with any ill gotten booty, slaves, treasure and livestock.

For the defender against raiders, the name of the game was observation, delay and disruption of the raiders principally along the most likely routes of movement, thus alerting and allowing for the gathering of a counter attacking force to strike the raiders on the return home.

Here lies, as the two speakers illustrated the core of the majority of military activity of the period, and often larger engagements resulted from a raiding force being cornered by the defenders and forced to call in all their outlying foragers to contest the forced battle.

My edition of Adrian's "The Complete Roman Army" autographed
by the author, also being read at the moment

I certainly came away with lots of ideas particularly around my planned Roman, Dacian, Sarmatian and German collections and consideration of some skirmish level battles would seem to be an interesting addition to my plans.

The three presentations were a great distraction and I thoroughly enjoyed the discussions and have marked the diary for a return next year.

Finally whilst heading back across Cardiff to collect our car, Mr Steve kindly detoured to take us over to visit the massive Firestorm Games Emporium in what looks like a converted furniture store. I immediately thought on entering the shop of the advertising slogan seen here in the UK by a certain beer manufacturer, which would proclaim, "if Carlsburg made a wargames store".

On entering the shop floor the left of the store is filled with table space (see below) which at the time was in full use with that hum of noise created by gamers engrossed with the the drama on the table in front of them.

To the right was an amazing amount of stock of board games, terrain, painting, modelling materials and figures from X-wing, Battlefront, War and Empire to name but a few. I had heard a lot about Cardiff's new store and gaming facility and I was very impressed.

https://www.facebook.com/firestormgamesltd/
http://www.firestormgames.co.uk/

Thus ended a very nice day in Cardiff and we all came away very impressed with Crusade. I can see the show being a regular event in JJ's Wargames calendar and I am looking forward to the next one in 2017 - Well done to the guys at the Penarth and District Wargames Society and thank you to Steve M and Mr Steve for their company.