Napoleonic Spanish Militia

I have finished my battalion of provincial militia my Spanish contingent (still deciding on a flag, but will most likely go with the standard red X cross). As you may have read these are in fact figures from the Perry Carlist wars range.

Just enough red showing to add a little color to the unit.

 

 
 You’ll notice a priest is accompany the battalion … which fits in well with the militia theme.

 
I had some figures left over, so made up a skirmishing unit of Spanish guerillas.

And finally what Spanish army would be complete without a tiny unit of armed Monks!

Next up is a unit of Spanish cavalry … after which I may take a break from the Spanish. I’ll either work more on my Austrian contingent or get sucked into the Wars of the Spanish Succession that is sweeping the store!

Beneath the Lily BannerGame Two

Bob and I had our second game of Beneath the Lily Banners this week. It was a slightly smaller game, in that we cut out a couple of infantry battalions as we wanted to focus on cavalry actions this game.

We each had four battalions of infantry, two squadrons of cavalry and an field battery ... again the British were Platoon fire for infantry and Blade for cavalry. While the French were Rank firing and Bullet cavalry. All units were classed as Drilled as well. Both Commanders were rolled as Competent.

 



The Battle
The start of the battle saw about half of each side advancing ... under the cover of long range artillery fire. The second turn saw our first cavalry clash (our last as it turns out!).

 

The bonus for being blade tipped the balance to the British cavalry who won the first round 5 to 3. We each reinforced the battle with a second squadron. Even so, as both sides were disordered, we each only rolled a couple of dice. 

 

The British still won, 2 to 1. This brought up a few issues (aka problems!) as the casualties inflicted eliminated the French squadron. With much reading we moved on through it, which resulted in the British squadrons overrunning the other French Squadron.

 

Bob now set out to send his infantry forward, ... that was the plan, but he had several bad turns for orders, so only a couple battalions of infantry advanced.

The sluggish nature of the advanace allowed the French Artillery to pour fire onto a lead battalion, eventually reducing it to half strength and shakey morale. By then though we each had two battalions of infantry blazing away with musketry.

The British cavalry had reformed and charged into a fresh French battalion, who issued their opening volley onto the foolish cavalry ... one hit was inflicted.  I though that was the end of infantry, but in the combat they managed to draw with the horse 3-3. Now reduced the horse only rolled one die, while the infantry rolled two ... and won 2-1! With the British Horse eliminated we decided to call the game.

After Action Report
While we still had a good time with the game, we did run into several issues/problems. While I do still like the morale checks we have to make, they did not seem to impact the game much. We must have taken over twenty five checks for various reasons ... and only had one unit become Shaken! Basically you need a 4+ to pass and it is real easy (especially in a small game) to get positive modifiers. The thing with casualties' is that they don't kick in until the unit is really starting to get beat up, so I suspect most units will simple be destroyed before they ever Rout.

The other issue that came up was with multiple units in close combat. There is some vague wording about it. the first is what happens to the reinforcing unit if the primary unit is destroyed? It implies that it is treated as a Lost Combat, but is that for the round or the whole combat? ie does it just take a morale check as normal or does it rout. Also what happens to the reinforcing unit if the primary unit is wipe out AND lost a number of combat rounds to auto Rout? Also are casualties spread upon all units or just the primary unit?

We also found that Cavalry is very brittle ... basically they have one good charge in them.

I am really keen to try a game with a scenario and multiple people ... While I know it will bring up other issue we will have to work through, it will be more entertaining to have a reason to attack/defend then just to "test out" game mechanics. :)

Napoleonic Spanish Infantry

Finished my third battalion of Spanish infantry for Black Powder. Overall they came out as expected ... not great, but not bad.

I just realized I missed the buttons!

I need to touch up the flags, edge the sides black, as well as the bullet holes.

Grenadiers bearskin bag came out pretty well ... I like the light blue in it.

 

 

I am working on a fourth battalion, a militia battalion. Had some issue finding figures, until Mark suggested I look at the Perry Carlist figures ... only about 20 years off, but militia is militia!

My little workstation at the shop.

About 50% done ... might cut down on the red.

To left you'll notice some armed monks/priests,

I thought one or two would be a good fit with a Spanish militia unit :)



 

 

Austerlitz to Waterloo - 28mm Napoleonics

We played a Napoleonic rule set called Austerlitz to Waterloo last weekend. The rules are a home brewed set created by Wes R. Even though he has doubled the number pages of rules, from two to four, they are very easy to play and get into the game. They are geared toward 28mm, but really any scale of figures would work.

 

 

 

The scenario involved an Austrian force assaulting the French who were holding a line of villages behind a wooded stream. The Austrians needed to take three of the five objectives (bridge, two fords, & two towns) or just break French units to win.

 

Mark S. commanded two brigades of cavalry supported by infantry and a battery of light guns. He had the task of capturing the French right village and ford. James M. had the bulk of the Austrian infantry supported by two batteries, one light and one medium. The main attack would come from his troops and was focused on the right center of the French line.

 

Wes R. commanded several battalions of infantry supported by a battery and cavalry regiment. He was to hold the center and left flank of the French line. I commanded three battalions of infantry (one an elite Light battalion), three cavalry regiments (Hussars, Dragoons & Cuirassiers) as well as a medium battery. I was to hold the right flank, made easier by a large wooded area.

 

The Austrian attack against the right center took a bit of time to get going as they were slow to shake out of their march columns. It did not help that long range French artillery fire played havoc on the Austrians. It was at first looking like the Austrians were really going to have tuff day crossing the stream.

 

Mark’s command of cavalry quickly advanced up and over the hill, and I realized I needed to buy as much time as I could so sent in my cavalry piecemeal against his massed cavalry. Over the next few turns the cavalry from both sides clashed in the open area before the small village that held the French Light Battalion. Eventually the Austrian numbers won out, and all three regiments of French cavalry were broken. I was however, able to set up my foot battery in a good firing position and promptly blasted the worn out Austrian Cuirassiers from the battlefield!

 

In addition, I had during this time also moved a battalion of infantry through some woods and they engaged the Grenz battalion at the other end. After a turn of dismal firing by both sides, I charged home and drove the grenzers from the woods with the bayonet. This effectively ended the Austrian attack on our right flank, and I felt secure in my position to send off a battalion of infantry to help out in the center.

 

It seems that the Austrians finally sorted themselves out … under the cover of two artillery batteries! They then proceeded to advance with a couple of the large infantry battalions and pushed out all three defending French battalions. On their right, the artillery had swept away most resistance, and to secure the ford, another battalion of Austrian infantry crossed the creek and cleared away the remaining French forces. With the center and left broken, the remaining French forces retreated from the battlefield.

 

Overall the AtoW rules were fun to play and easy to master. After the game, we had a rehash session of the game. The result of which has Wes thinking of toning down the artillery fire, especially long range. In addition he might tweak the cavalry melee, as they were very destructive in a short time frame (four of the seven regiments were destroyed in one round of combat).