FoG2 Medieval: Florence versus the Papal States

 I can't believe it's been two years since I posted here. There are a number of reasons for my absence, including some health issues and a general lack of interest in posting (though not gaming) during the past two years. It may be that this marks a return to semi-regular posting. Certainly, I have an interest in talking to the void about history and gaming that I haven't had in some time. No promises, but it's probably worth checking back occasionally.

One thing that has happened in the past couple of years is that my interest in gaming has shifted towards miniatures gaming over board games. I still play board games, but my ability to create any sort of scenario I want to explore using minis has a lot of appeal. I'm less interested in the painting and collecting aspects of the hobby. Hence, I've ended up with several armies of plexiglass minis from Wofun Games, all 18mm. When I want to play solo, I've found the Field of Glory games to be a great substitute. They look like minis games, the rules are pretty decent for the period covered, and one can throw together a custom battle with about half-a-dozen mouse clicks. The custom battles cover 75%-80% of what I want to play, and the editor allows me to quickly build more specific scenarios when I want to.

I'm particularly interested in the armies of the late Renaissance right now. Today's FoG 2 Medieval battle was a custom battle pitting the forces of Florence versus the Papal States sometime in the last 20 or so years of the 15th century. Having recently played a number of games set in the Wars of the Roses or the Hundred Years War as the English, I leaned toward a heavy selection of missile troops during army setup.

Florence versus the Papal States

The 1705 Moselle Campaign - Part I

Marlborough poised on the Moselle for an attack on Saarlouis, waiting on Allied reinforcements

A few weeks ago I responded to a question on Facebook concerning artillery organization during the 1705 Moselle Campaign during the War of Spanish Succession. After doing a little research from my ever-growing library of books on 18th Century war, I was intrigued enough to want to game out the campaign itself.

Walcourt 1689

The results about halfway through the game, being careful to take my own advice and "wait for the guns."

Scourge of War at Dogs of War

Despite what posts over the past several months may make it look like, I don't just play board games. I still play quite a few computer wargames as well. This past weekend I played a great game of Scourge of War: Waterloo with the team over at the Dogs of War VU, a group dedicated (among other things) to playing multiplayer sims and wargames. The game was very enjoyable, and the DOW crew are great people. Be sure to drop by and read the AAR from this weekend's game.

A Famous Victory - Blenheim: Battle is Joined

Warfare during this period certainly is a methodical affair. It takes Cutts from 12:30 until 2:00 PM to get his leading brigade across the Nebel and launch the first assault on Blenheim. Despite support from the battery next to the village and all three battalions of the famed French Navarre regiment holding the front edge of Blenheim, Rowe's men charge the barricades.  Their combined fire shatters the 1/Navarre, eliminating it. Return fire disrupts a British battalion.

A Famous Victory - Blenheim: Reset

Blenheim setup overview

After doing a lot more reading about Blenheim and getting in a couple of turns to familiarize myself with the rules, I've decided to reset the game and start over. This time I'm using a much closer to historical setup, based on the OOB and maps from Obscure Battles. Not only is the distribution of units more correct, the actual battalions and regiments are mostly in the correct locations. The OOBs from the game and web site don't entirely line up, but they're close.

A Famous Victory - Blenheim: Anglo-Allied Setup and First Turns

Now for the Anglo-allied setup. Again, this is a quasi-historical setup. The commands ("lines" in game terms) are composed of roughly the right mix of units, and are in roughly the right places - as far as anyone knows. For a future game I will probably use the positions as illustrated here for what may be a more historical setup.

More from Kriegsspieler

Jim has a couple of posts near and dear to my heart today. First, he talks about his new Kriegsspiel dice. If you're interested in running any Kriegsspiel games, these are a must-have. He pointed them out in a post the other day at Grogheads, prompting me to purchase them as well. His post also provides links to the rules and other stuff you'll need to play. I've also dropped strong hints to the wife and kids that I would be overjoyed to find the Brandywine game under the Christmas tree...

Jim also covers the end of our recent Combat Mission Final Blitzkrieg game, where we've knocked the stuffing out of each other for the past couple of months. He tells the story well, so I'll leave it up to him to do so. Suffice to say that my advance was more impetuous than it should have been.

Action at Dego: JTS Campaign Marengo

French approach to Dego, initial positions

Not much boardgaming this weekend, as I've been consumed with PBEM turns and solo computer gaming. Much of the latter has been due to this game, the newly released Campaign Marengo from John Tiller Software.

OSG's The Last Success: Eckmuhl - 2:00 to 3:00 PM

As the afternoon progresses, things are definitely heating up, despite the pouring rain.

2:00 PM - Vandamme attacks at Unter Deggenbach, routing M. Lichtenstein's Grenzers and lt. cavalry. Clement's HC attacks south of Lindach, pushing back Pfanzelter's piquets.  Lannes advances to vicinity of Lindach.

Battle of Kolin: Prussia's Glory II - 4

The Prussian attack is finally underway. Cavalry from both sides battle it out on the east side of the map while the Prussian infantry begins its assault.

Battle of Kolin: Prussia's Glory II - Cavalry Fight

At around 2PM, Zeiten's hussars swing into action, striking the right of Nadasdy's hussars northwest of Kutlirz. The charge is successful, eliminating and driving off much of the Austrian light horse. Zieten presses his advantage into a sweeping charge. Meanwhile, the Prussian second line cavalry wing under Krosigk along with a brigade of dragoons from Hulsen's wing smash into the left side of Nadasdy's formation.

Battle of Kolin: Prussia's Glory II - 3

Halfway through the game. Fortunes of War, poor Command Determination rolls, and Croat light infantry have seriously messed with the Prussian's plans. 

Battle of Kolin: Prussia's Glory - Croat Sniping

63 Croats snipe Prussian column causing disorder

The optional rules really make this game system shine.

One of the major differences between the Prussian army and the Austrian army during the Seven Year's War was the Austrian use of light troops. Frederick though that using irregular infantry was dishonorable and cowardly, and refused to employ them. This led to situations during campaigns and battles where his troops were at a disadvantage in terms of reconnaissance and in fighting in constricted terrain.

Canadian Armour: Le Mesnil-Patry

I’m finding the Battles of Normandy from John Tiller Software quite engaging. The combination of late war combined arms, the Normandy terrain, and the company-level Grand Tactical scale is really drawing me in.

Victory Point Games: Aspern Essling

I quite enjoy the Napoleonic 20 system from Victory Point Games. They are quick to play with easy rules that still manage to pull off reasonable results for the scale.

Right now I'm reading John Gill's excellent trilogy on the 1809 campaign against Austria:

Which is just a phenomenal read. If you are at all interested in Napoleonic warfare, this should be on your list.

GMT's Hoplite

How can you tell it's a three-day weekend? Because I have the energy to do a blog post!

I finally managed to punch and set up a game of GMT's Hoplite, the latest in the Great Battles of History series. Here are some pictures from my first attempt at this system...

Battle of Delium in 424 BCE. Red units are the Boetians and the purple are the Athenians.

Waterloo 20: Day 1

After spending most of a week in the Grogheads booth at Origins last month, I've found myself playing board games about as much as I've been playing computer games. A couple of weeks ago I discovered an absolutely great operational scale series of Napoleonic games from Victory Point Games called Napoleonic 20.

A couple of years ago GMT Games released a quad pack of these games, with upgraded components called Fading Glory. I ordered Fading Glory, learned the system, and am playing my first game with it; in this case Waterloo. Rather than trying to explain the game mechanics myself, let me point you to an excellent video from GMT Games that covers the basics:

I'm going to play a day and then post some pictures and descriptions of the action. We enter the campaign on the afternoon of June 16th. I am playing this game using all of the optional rules.

Linz-Urfar 17 May 1809

During the Spring of 1809, the Austrians rose against Napoleon in a somewhat over-optimistic attempt to throw off French dominance and reverse the defeat of 1805. The initial Austrian invasion of Bavaria took the French off-guard, but Napoleon reacted quickly, concentrating his army and defeating the Austrians under Archduke Charles at Eckmuhl on 21-22 April.

As Charles withdrew towards Vienna Napoleon and his Saxon and Württemberg allies chased after them along the Danube. Not quite a month after the defeat at Eckmuhl, Charles dispatched Kolowrat's Austrian III Corps to attack Napoleon's extended lines of communication at the town of Linz, where the Wurttemberg troops and Saxons under Vandamme and Bernadotte respectively had established a bridgehead across the Danube.

JTS scenario background. I am playing the historical variant of the scenario.

Tal Division at Rafah - June 5, 1967

Continuing my study of the Arab-Israeli conflicts of the last half of the 20th century, I picked up Middle East '67 from John Tiller Software. I've actually had this title for my Android tablet for awhile, but hadn't played it much. I think the PC versions are superior in any case.

For a first try, I decided to play scenario 67_05: Gaza and Beyond. This scenario depicts the attack of the Tal Division on the fortified area of Gaza around Rafah Junction on June 5th, 1967. This attack was a necessary prelude to the attack into the Sinai.

Jump-off positions of Tal Division. All of the 202 Parachute Brigade is fixed at the start, as is Baron Force (blue symbol backgrounds)