Peninsular War Scenario Files

I'm always thinking of ways to improve the blog and make changes.

This post is to let you know that I thought it would be helpful to those that want to use the Carnage & Glory scenarios if I put up a file containing every thing you need to play it using the system.

So starting with Rolica which I have play tested, I have made these changes. So if you follow the link it will take you to a file containing the Scenario PDF, the AAR PDF, plus the Army List and Order of Battle files, and the XL ID tags for the units.

As I complete the other scenarios I will take down the Scenario PDFs and post the full file as above.

I hope you C&GII players find that useful.

Yesterday at the Club - Thoughts on Rules and Scenarios

This week has been taken up with putting together one of the games for this month's meeting of the Devon Wargames Group. I have posted a full report on the game at  Battle of Grant's Hill 1776.

 

I was slightly out of the "comfort zone" in that having discussed with a friend at the club, Jack, that it would be cool to get his AWI 28mm collection out, I suggested we play them using "Maurice", forgetting of course, that they are really designed as a two player set of rules. At the Devon Group we are regularly getting about 10 -12 players turning up and so we plan to offer at least two and at yesterdays meet three games to get everyone involved.

 

I then emailed Jack over the intervening month and suggested that we could try out Carnage & Glory II - SYW/AWI set of computer rules.

 

I then had to start thinking about the logistics that went with that proposal as I usually plan a game around my own collections of figures, terrain etc and have all the kit ready to go on the day.

 

War in the Colonies, yesterday at the Devon Wargames Group

First thing, As I don't wargame in 28mm, I needed to get some new range sticks, at 1" to 25 paces produced. These range sticks are an additional aid to the usual tape measure as the system works on paces (a pace being 27 inches in real life) not inches, and the range sticks marked in paces really speed up the information players give to the computer operator, namely me. The markers for these sticks have been pre-produced and are freely available on the Carnage & Glory Yahoo Group .

Then not knowing how Jack's figures were based or the size of the units, I needed a detailed list of figures to work with. Other stuff like terrain, we have plenty of in the club.

With the list of figures I then sat down and thought about a suitable scenario based on the size of Jack's collection. I chose a quick solution by turning to Charles Grant's book "Scenarios for Wargames" about which I will discuss. The scenario chosen was No.7 Rear Slope, which I changed to "Grant's Hill" in honour of the great man.

Thus with the scenario in mind it was then a case of changing the order of battle suggested in the book to better match an AWI battle, the results of which you can see below.



The process described above really all came together last week, and given that we hadn't played this particular rule set before, the rules stood up to a "throw together scenario" typical of a lot of club games. Now to be fair, as readers of this blog will know, I have been using the Napoleonic set for my own games, but different period rule modules have their own quirks to be contended with, so at times it felt like a leap of faith pulling yesterdays game together.

 

If you've read the game report then you will see that things went off great and we had a really fun and interesting game. The American command team was Tom and Ollie, who being under 25 years of age definitely rank as two of our younger club players, faced with Jack and myself who as part of the majority of our club membership are well over the other side of that threshold. This clash of generations, and contrast in wargaming experience, probably mirrored quite well the difference in experience and capability between the American and British commanders in the early part of the AWI. Needless to say, one or two errors crept in to some of the command decisions made by our younger opponents, which were ruthlessly exploited (no they weren't, just joking). More like, it was a case of, "are you sure you want to do that because if you do!!"

 

Yesterdays experience has really reinforced my confidence in using this computer driven set of rules. When I think about how easy it was to prepare the scenario, turning up at club with the game prepared ready to go on the lap top, the fun of announcing a particular reaction or response by a given unit, and then the "wash up" at the end when a clear victory report is given with a post battle update of returning stragglers and walking wounded, I think this is ticking a lot of boxes that I want ticked when I play.

 

So from the rules to the scenario. In the week I noticed a post on one of the blogs I follow, sorry it escapes me which one it was, about getting hold of a copy of Scenarios for Wargames on Ebay for £20 and what a pleasing addition to the library this was.

 

 

I've had this book in my collection for many years and dip into it now and then but had come to view it as a bit dated and too formulaic. Since getting back into my Napoleonics, I have upped my reading around the period and with a view towards the Peninsular War in particular, have been keen to develop ideas about scenarios in general.

 

I sat down in the week and started to go through this book with yesterdays game in mind, discarding certain scenarios as I read because they were designed around bigger forces, different periods or would be more complex than I wanted for a simple game to be played at club. After I had found what I wanted, I then started to go back to the ones I had rejected and read them back thinking about any historical comparisons I could make. Indeed Charles Grant points some of them out in the book. His Rear Guard (2) is based on Corunna.

 

I was rather pleased how often I could think of comparison historical battles where these scenarios mirrored the historical event. Indeed as well as the Corunna example, I found myself thinking about my Oporto scenario as I read "Assault River Crossing". This also provided ideas for a later game I have in mind to recreate Wellington's crossing of the Bidasoa. The "Reinforcing a Town" scenario has given me ideas about a mini game to recreate the fighting in Fuentes de Orno. This battle spread over three days has, I have thought, always been a bit of a challenge to capture in a scenario format.

 

Where I think the work comes in when using this book is looking at the orbats. Obviously when Charles Grant wrote this book in 1981, he was making it as generic as possible so it would work with as wider options of rules and periods as possible. I, as other wargamers, will want to tailor these scenarios to our particular needs and adjusting the order of battle to better mirror the historical armies we are trying to model. 

 

What I think I might try is to re-write these scenarios to a Peninsular War/AWI theme, with pre-prepared orbats based initially on my own collection. It would be quite fun to have these pre-prepared so as to be able to put together a game at short notice with everything ready to go.

 

This week has made me take another look at an old resource. At some stage I would like to do a little bit of campaigning, and I think these old scenarios could have a role to play in that idea as well. More anon.



 

Spring Plans

Well with April finally here I'm starting to take stock of the first three months of 2013, where did that go! I'm starting to look forward to the next four months in terms of figures to get painted and games to play but I also know then that given family commitments, holidays, going out to enjoy the weather!! etc, the middle months of the year tend to be limited in time to focus on the metal warriors.

As you can see my plan has very much of a Peninsular War Napoleonic theme to it interspersed with other periods to play as I go. I have laid out a framework in previous posts of aiming to play a series of British battles from the war in a linear time format developing scenarios along the way and painting new figures to add to the collection as I go.

With Rolica done and dusted and the new table completed, its full speed ahead to Vimeiro, the themes of which I laid out in my post last month. I find it helps me to focus on what is needed now if I have a scenario plan in mind with the precise figure and terrain requirements to make it happen.

I decided that Vimeiro offered an opportunity to put together a core collection that would form the foundation of both my British and French forces, allowing me to add allied contingents as I progressed my scenarios into the war. My thinking is to be painting contingents for the next scenario whilst playing the current. Then to release my ideas to the wider world after play testing.

So how is the plan standing up to first contact with the enemy, General Time?

Well I have completed all the forces required to play my Vimeiro Light scenario, which based on Dave Brown's Wellington's Victories Scenarios Vimeiro Hill and Ventosa, breaks the battle down into the two actions that characterised the battle. I will be playing Vimeiro Hill at Legionary in Exeter next month as a demonstration game from the Devon Wargames Group. Between now and then I am aiming to play Ventosa at home on the new table, with a few mates.

Vimeiro -Full Fat version

In addition to that I have almost everything together to play my Vimeiro full fat scenario with everything in except Trant and his Portuguese who played a very supporting role in the actual clash. With the 91st Highlanders waiting to be done and three British Gun crews to be picked up at Salute, I just need to put a few extra river sections together and I can get the "big one" played hopefully in early June.

Speaking of Salute, I have sent off pre-order emails to War Modelling UK, Old Glory, Magister Militum, who I have asked to bring me one of these.

This little delight is going to be a centre piece on my Battle of Oporto assault river crossing scenario with the wine barges. You can see something similar in the picture below which comes from a very interesting Portuguese blog Port and not only

PASSAGE OF THE DOURO, by the division under the Command of Lt Gen.l the Hon.ble Edward Paget.

PASSAGE OF THE DOURO, by the Division under the Command of Lt Gen.l Sir John Murray:

Also Fighting 15s, TSS and Plastic Soldier, the last of which will be bringing up my copy of Kamfgruppe Normandy and the extra copy of the rules. I played the Kursk set in January KG Kursk AAR - Devon Wargames Group at the Devon Wargames club meeting and am keen to have a go with my Normandy collection, so watch this space for a report.

I am also looking forward to checking out the Xan figure range from Empress Miniatures, this range of Napoleonic figures look very nice in the pictures, I just want to see them in the flesh.

With regard to planning and building for the next game whist playing the last, I have already put the Corunna scenario together focusing on the fight for the village of Elvina. This will require at least two British line units faced and laced Blue and Gold to cater for the 1st Royal Scots and the 4th King's Own. There were no such faced and laced units in the Vimiero campaign, Yellow being the popular colour that season! and so as I also need KGL units later for Oporto and Talavera, the KGL will be standing in for these two illustrious regiments for my Corunna re-fight.

Now to a slight change in the plan. I thought it might be fun to post my scenarios before I play them, then you can tell me what you think (keep it constructive please) and I can tap in to the JJs Wargames Brain Trust for any gems. So I have put up the links for Vimiero Light, Vimiero Full Fat and Corunna. Please note, that I have posted the Vimiero and Corunna scenarios before play testing myself. In addition I have taken ideas from other scenarios and rearranged them accordingly. In so doing I have recognised those sources when known. There may be errors that will need correcting that I would probably pick up during a game, so play with them on that basis, and let me know your thoughts.

One thing I will point out is that I have put them together, initially, around Carnage & Glory as I really like this rule set and, following last months Rolica game,intend to play more games using them this year. I have even managed to commandeer Tom's old school laptop to become my official wargames playing computer. However if you are interested in playing these scenarios with other rule sets, don't be put off as the battalion strengths are based on historical sources and should easily translate to other sets.

Please check out the Carnage & Glory Yahoo Group as I intend to post all the game files in the files section there. If you do use the rules or are thinking of doing so, all the stuff you need will be there.

Tamiya's Small Pointed Brush - Update

Last December I posted how pleased I was with my newly acquired Tamiya paint brush after a long fruitless search for something reliable and long lasting. It already had had five weeks of use at that time.

I guess I should state up front that I do not hold shares in Tamiya, although based on my feelings for this lovely piece of kit I'm seriously thinking about getting some.

 

The reason why I've posted this now is I was chatting to a friend about painting and stuff to get at Salute, as you do, when I found myself telling him that if he bought nothing else this month he could do a lot worse than getting one of these brushes.

 

So why is it so good? Well bear in mind that I have been painting little toy soldiers for forty years and I've got through a few brushes in my time. I think on average, with using the brush pretty much every day, my brushes lasted, i.e. kept their point, for about three months. I may have been able to increase that slightly by washing them out occasionally in Tamiya paint thinners, that helps get out those microscopic particles of acrylic paint.

 

Ok, so I've now been using the same brush for over five months, working on all the figures I have blogged about in that time which include at least 6 x 24 man battalions of British and French infantry,  12 x Portuguese cavalry, three batteries of artillery, crews guns and limbers and casualty figures plus a few General officers. I think I can also include about forty 28mm Wars of the Roses figures used in our Xmas club game.

 

The "point" is my brush still has one and shows no sign of fraying. In addition I bought two new ones as a back up so at this rate probably won't need a detail brush for the next two to three years.

 

Anyway, if you are thinking about getting a new brush soon, you might want to consider this one.

 

British Napoleonic Artillery - Blue Moon

A month ago I announced to the world that I was the proud owner of a Blue Moon brigade of British Foot artillery. Since then, following painting Portuguese dragoons, British and French casualty markers and putting together the new table, I can now introduce my new table top warriors.

It seems fitting that they should be the first unit to get a photo-shoot on the new table, and to add value to the exercise, I thought you might like some range comparison shots.

So here they are, a Blue Moon 6lbr foot brigade with a Fantassin team of drivers

The first thing I would say is that for the money, I think these are a very nice sculpt that paint up easily. As you can see they fit in nicely with the Fantassin figures.

So in the photo below we have a BM gun and crew (left) next to the AB gun and crew (right) and with the Fantassin driver team behind.

I think you'll agree that if money were no object it would be AB all the way as the sculpt standard is superb. However if there it is one thing I really like with the Blue Moon option its got to be their guns.

If you can get over the fact that they seem to have missed off the elevation screw, the "chunkiness" and brute force look of the barrel, carriage and wheels seems to be more appealing than the rather delicate looking AB option. I have yet to see their howitzer model. I'm hoping to pick some up at Salute, but I think they'll look great lobbing shrapnel rounds at the Emperor's Legions.



BM left, AB on the right

BM left, AB on the right

AB on the left and BM on the right

AB on the left and BM on the right

New Wargames Table Finished

So the last post had the table construction finished in two days of sawing, nailing, screwing and sanding. Next jobs were staining the woodwork and cutting the insulation boards to go under the cloth.

The side panel released ready for staining

Dust sheets down, table masked ready for the wood stain

The next two days were a repeated application of several layers of wood stain to bring the bleached bone look of the new timber down to the warmer tones of Rosewood.

Thomas hard at work

And then it was done, with the insulation boards cut and in place, with the terrain mat in place and the wood looking lovely. Just need a few friends round with some figures on the table to let the good times flow.

A 9' x 5' table gives you acres of space especially when, like me, you game in 15/18mm.

Just to give an impression of how things will look I grabbed a few pieces of terrain and some of my WWII stuff and quickly put a show on. Somewhere in Poland late 1944 perhaps.

So that's the table project done, and a very satisfying way to spend an Easter bank holiday. Now back to the figure painting, which has continued whilst this project was happening. I have just finished off my Blue Moon British Foot Artillery so will post some comparison shots with my AB gunners in the next few days. Stay tuned.

New Wargames Table

Since deciding to move away from hex based terrain to using mats which are so easy to set up and take down, I have been thinking about altering my table to better suit this change. I am the owner of a perfectly good table tennis table, that performs a much better job as a 9' x 5' wargames table.

Imitation they say is the sincerest form of flattery, and I have long been an admirer of  Lord Ashram's set up and have studied his pictures of his table design that he built from scratch. I was particularly taken with his idea of using a fixed outer frame with a removable inner frame built around a base of insulation foam. The idea allows one to place hills on the foam, place the terrain mat over the top, and lock the mat in place taught over the hills by slotting the inner frame back into place.

Other terrain such as walls, trees and hedges can, with the clever use of pins attached to their base, be
used to pin other terrain such as road and fields into place through the mat into the foam below. For a clearer explanation check out the excellent reports on Lord Ashram's blog.

So with the decision to go with this idea, planning permission had to be obtained from Mrs JJ otherwise known as "She who must be obeyed", and a carpentry expert to head up the project as I know my limits. Fortunately my eldest son Thomas is very happy with a saw and drill in his hand and the opportunity to have some father/son man time on a joint project helped sell the idea to Mrs JJ.

Work started yesterday, with the removal of the old frame and the fixing of the outer and inner frames. In addition several sheets of insulation board were purchased, one of which can be seen in the photos, used to gauge the depth of the frame.

The outer and inner frames in place

Those shelf batons will need fixing in place

With day one and the two frames fixed it was on to the next stage. The inner frame carries a top beading that helps lock it together and gives a neat finish to the table. We also had some embarrassingly large pieces of lumber left over after sawing up the frame, so what to do with them?

The beading in place on the inner frame

Answer, down to B&Q for a set of brass hooks and hinges and hey presto, shelves for dice, range sticks, rules and beer glasses.

Really pleased with the fold away shelves, and the spirit level says they're level!

And while we were at it we might as well put one on the other side

Starting to look like the finished article

So here we are at the end of day two with the frame and shelves completed together with a sturdier set of under table storage shelves.

Day three will be painting on the Teak wood stain varnish to match the table with the figure and book cases more appropriate for a 1930's property.

My son, Thomas who, once he finishes at university, might well have a future selling designer wargames tables.

More updates later over Easter when we get the foam boards on and try out the terrain mat.

The table just crying out for a game