War Stories

I'm very pleased to report that the Wellington Warlords' Call to Arms 2024 event was a smashing success!

I decided to dress the part, naturally (photo courtesy of CT, the husband of the delightful DT and her son J who stopped by to have a look)..

While I was channeling Brigadier (Rtd) Terry Grantstone-Bath, c. 1964, His Dastardlyness had opted for the prog rock WRG wunderkind look, c.1973:

In the main hall the competition and other games were something to behold (photos courtesy of the Baron von Driberg).

Our section was pretty much given over to the Old Schoolers, who were all playing ancients of one sort or another:

So what were we up to? Well, the plan was to play through yet another of Charles Grant's iconic Table Top Teasers, this one being TTT No.3: "The Advance Guard Action", which appeared in the June and July 1978 editions of Battle Magazine. These have been digitised by Steve the Wargamer and are viewable on his splendid Random Musings Blog here: The Teasers.

This promised to be an exciting affair involving two small infantry forces with sizeable cavalry support, with the potential for substantial reinforcements halfway through the game. Grant himself thought it was one of his most successful scenarios.

The objective for the French (played by yours truly), seen here on the left, was to seize and secure the village before launching an offensive to take the river crossing. Driberg's Prussian objectives, unsurprisingly, were the opposite: secure the bridge and then capture the village.

Much to my consternation, The Garde zu Fuss and the Lutzow Lancers immediately made moves towards the village.

While on the Prussian Left, the 10th Infantry Regiment and 9th Reserve Infantry marched resolutely across the fields towards the bridge, with the 2nd Dragoons in support.

The French response was to make a dash for the village with the 45e de Ligne, while the 4e Chasseurs made a vaguely threatening advance on the extreme Left.

Meanwhile, the 61e de Ligne and the Irish Legion made a two-pronged advance towards the centre and the bridge, with the 8e Cuirassiers trotting along behind.

A turn or two later, and things were definitely starting to look interesting.

Heavy artillery fire was doing nothing good at all for von Driberg's Silesian Schutzen in the small copse in the centre, and was also causing problems for the Lutzowers ...

... while the Irish had beaten the Prussians into the wooded slopes above the bridge. The 10th and 9th Reserve formed line, but were starting to get picked off by the French voltigeurs.

Things only really started to fall apart, however, when the 9th Reserve became disordered. Nansouty immediately charged with the 8e Cuirassiers.

It was all up for the 9th, of course, but the 8e were then immediately countercharged in flank by the 2nd Dragoons.

This did not go well for the 8e, but there was further trouble in store for the Prussians as the French reinforcements, in the form of Empress's Dragoons, came galloping onto the field.

Driberg's reinforcements, the 52nd Foot, could only look on in horror. Not only only were the 2nd Dragoons being crushed, but the 10th Infantry Regiment were then suddenly attacked and routed by the Irish Legion charging out of the forrest.

And the same incident again as seen from from von Driberg's telescope!

With the Prussian left collapsing, things hadn't been going all that well on the right either when the Lutzowers were pounced by the 4th Chasseurs and sent fleeing from the field. In the excitement I failed to get a picture of this, but you can probably more or less guess how this unfolded from the picture below:

We decided to call it a day at this point as we were exhausted, not least because so many people had popped over to have a gander and a bit of a chinwag. There were quite a lot of Hinton Hunts in New Zealand back in the day, I was told. I wonder where they all are now.

Day two was a replay of the scenario, but with me playing the Prussians and a very nice chap who was a friend of Driberg's taking on the role of Davout in command of the French.

Things went much as they had on day one, except that I went all out to seize the woods next to the bridge, and even managed to kick the Irish Legion out this time.

This seems to have annoyed Davout a bit as he responded with a desperate charge by the 4e Chasseurs, but as the sun of Rossbach rose over the table, it was clear this was not going to end well. This was very unlucky for Davout as he was not to know that this was moment when two battalions of Allied reinforcements were due to arrive.

As the RGL artillery (acting as horse artillery) scuttled out of the way, it all went a bit Charge of the Light Brigade.

I think the game could still have gone either way as there were a lot of reinforcements coming onto the table, but as we'd had even more people coming over to talk to us, and had to pack up a bit earlier than the day before, that was about it I'm sorry to say.

This was all gloriously good fun and wouldn't have happened at all without my good friend DF (aka von Driberg) encouraging me to do it. It was an absolutley brilliant way to meet some of NZ's wargaming pioneers and stalwarts and to get the word out about the Hinton Spieler. I gave away dozens of flyers over the two days. A fair few of my friends and colleagues from work came out to have a look too, which was extremely pleasing. It was great to see you JC, AS, NB and family, SH, and DT and family.

As a final shot, herewith von Driberg's photo of some of the vintage packaging that I use to carry about my Merit trees and hedges.

The trees, I should point out, were specially reinforced with green-painted metal washers so that they wouldn't fall over on the green hessian cloth I was using on the table top. This was Rob G's idea and worked brilliantly.

Yours truly,

WM

Preparing for War

If you've been wondering why the 2nd King's German Light Infantry Battalion seems to have disappeared, it's because I've been preparing for the Wellington Warlords annual "Call to Arms" wargames convention this weekend. Yes it's true, I'm finally coming out of the closet and will be wargaming in public.

The troops all packed up and ready to go:

The Army has been magnestised!

This has taken weeks of preparation, but this evening we're all set up and ready to go tomorrow morning:

I even ran up a poster in the faint hope that it might drum up a bit of interest:

You never know, a passing graphic designer may take pity on me and help me to do a slightly better job next time.

We're booked in for two days, so there'll be lots of battle pictures. My nemesis, the Dastardly Freiherr Von Driberg, is to be my opponent.

Wish me luck,

WM

Battle Stations

Happy New 2020, now entering an unprecedented third year.

I'm really supposed to be working on a regiment of French line chasseurs à cheval at the moment, but I promised my friend DF (aka the dastardly Baron von Driberg) that we would fight a battle, so most of the weekend was spent working on my new system of vinyl tile terrain pieces.

The tiles, which were all a foot square and came in any colour I wanted as long as it was black, were picked up from my local tip for about 5p per tile. I bought a hundred of them. I wasn't at all sure how well they would respond to paint, but as they were pretty solid affairs and a mere 2mm thick I thought it would be worth a try.

Seen below, using some very basic Thomas-the-Tank-Engine/Brio-style geometry, is what I did with a few of them:

The scenario we're to fight is the very first 'Table TopTeaser' by the late Charles Grant, which appeared in Battle for Wargamers magazine in February and March 1978. I was only eleven back then. The battle is to be fought next weekend.

A battle report will appear in due course, but before then I may also have a test chasseur ot two to show off.

Adieu, and wish me luck (on both counts),

WM

The Battle of the Holzberg 2

A feint chance of success

As the Prussians advanced, the Holzberg massif seemed to loom ever larger. Only the line of Silesian riflemen going on ahead could be seen by the massed ranks at the foot of the hill.

Prussian masses: What can you see up there?

Driberg trotted up and down in the rear, urging on his men.

Driberg: Up ze Guts, I tell you!

Realising nothing would divert the Prussians from their course, the Emperor decided to abandon his feint  towards the Prussian left and direct everything towards the heights. The Bavarian 4th Line Infantry duly altered their line of march and swerved in behind the Swiss.

Napoleon (exasperated): For goodness sake, those Prussians are too stupid

to even notice when I'm out manoeuvring them!

Moments later the cannon began to fire. First blood was to the Prussians against the Vistula Lancers on the French right. To the horror of the Polish troopers, their beloved commander, Marshal Murat, was also struck down.

Murat: If I play dead nobody will blame me for anything this time!

Retribution was swift. In almost the same instant, the elite Prussian Garde du Corps was hit by the French Artillerie a pied de la Garde.

Napoleon: Not so showy now, I think!

A wavering in the ranks

Not all was well, it seemed, in the Prussian ranks. Wallmoden's men in particular appeared much less keen to advance. Only a few Silesian riflemen had dared to approach the French left.

Silesians: We'll just tiptoe up und take a peek!

No such hesitation appeared to effect the French. The fusiliers of French First Division confidently wheeled into line, strongly supported by cavalry and artillery...

....

.

..while on their left, the crack 13e Légère stole into the woods. The Emperor was confident that no-one attempting to pass the western end of the Holzberg could possibly survive First Division's deadly crossfire.

With their flanks secure and with powerful support in the rear, the Swiss swarmed up the slopes of the Holzberg.

Opposing them, the first wave of Prussian infantry also surged up onto the hill

With the enemy now well and truly committed, the Emperor had no hesitation in unleashing his guard. Pressed together and unable to manoeuvre, the Emperor had no doubt whatsoever that the raw Prussian levies would be swiftly crushed.

Napoleon: (Yawn). Come on then, lets get this over with,

The Ogre strikes

In an instant, the Swiss charged across the hilltop and smashed into the troops opposite. The Prussian 9th Reserve Regiment was sent tumbling down the slopes. The 6th Reserve Regiment following on behind braced for the impact that was sure to follow. Driberg's plans seemed to be in tatters.

With the 45th and the 4th Bavarians also coming on to the hill, the Emperor's echeloned approach was paying dividends. The Prussians on the Holzberg were outnumbered three to two.

At the same time, the 13e Légère prepared to pounce on the unwary Lützowers on the Prussian right.

The decisive moment had arrived. Half the Prussian infantry were on the brink of being overthrown.

Driberg frantically attempted to rally his men.

Driberg: It's nutzing, Boys! Ze 9th are only pretending to run avay!!!

A twist of fate

The fate of all Europe hung in the balance. At this critical moment the Emperor seemed to pause. The colour drained from the scene. He hesitated. Somehow the initiative seemed to be slipping....

As the French in turn seemed to waver, the Prussians infantry let out a mighty "Hurrah!", and charged. The 6th Reserve crashed into the Swiss and sent them pell mell back towards the rear.

Not to be outdone, the 10th Silesians charged headlong into the Bavarians, who recoiled in disorder.

It was as nothing, however, compared to the berserker charge of  2nd Neumark Landwehr. The 45e de Ligne never stood a chance.

But it was the slaughter of the 13e Légère in the forest which was the most shocking. As Quiestil's Chasseurs fled, they were relentlessly cut down by von Lützow's merciless Schwarzen Jäger.

The 73rd looked-on aghast.

Lyon: Good heavens, Driberg, there'll be nothing left for us!

La Garde ...stops dead

The Emperor watched in astonishment as his regiments were sent  packing in panic towards the rear. Everything now depended on the 67th and the Guard. 

The Chasseurs, however, could make no headway whatsoever against the implacable Neumarks.

And the 67th were overthrown in very short order by the invincible 6th Reserve.

Only on the right was there any sort of success when the Leib Hussaren rashly decided to charge the Garde artillery.

The Grenadiers à Pied, on the other hand, were stopped dead in their tracks by the Prussian Garde zu Fuß and the Russisch-Deutsche Legion.

With four regiments effectively destroyed, and only a single battalion on the Holzberg against five of the enemy, the Emperor realised that the game was up.

Napoleon: Marbot, the Bulletin is to say: "Having decided on a minor strategic withdrawal..."

Driberg: You see, Zeithen? Straight up ze guts! It never fails!

And so it came to pass that after only seven turns I had suffered my most stunning defeat to date. My opponent, DF, graciously tried to reassure me that it was the luck of the dice, but it was clear to me that I had been thoroughly out-generaled. When playing M&M one must never disperse one's forces. I expect I will have forgotten this by the next battle...

Yours, chastened

WM