Angus  Konstam's Edinburgh Wargames

Edinburgh Wargames Journal

Issue 27  - October 2008

Periods featured  in this Issue:  Seven Years War (28mm), American Civil War (28mm),

American Civil War Naval (1/600th)  & Spanish Civil War (20mm)

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Seven Years War, 1758 - "Threat to the Flank" (Die Kriegskunst) 28mm

When we don't want to do a particularly big game, and prefer someone else to do the thinking for us, we often resort to a Charles S. Grant scenario. In this case, we culled one from Scenarios for All Ages (1996), a little book he co-authored with Stuart Asquith. It was loosely based on the Battle of the Boyne (1690), only scaled down to manageable proportions. In our fight, Dougie Trail's Prussians were Red Force (the scurvy Jacobites in 1690), while my Russians were Team Blue,  standing in for those heroes of 1690, the Williamites.

On the map, the main Prussian force was deployed on a hill at "D", while a flank guard stood at "R". The Russian main force faced off the Prussians at "M", while a flanking column started the game heading towards the bridge, at "F". Well, the flanking force made good progress, but soon faced a bottleneck. The Prussian flank guard had deployed in a very "gamey" box, between a marsh and the impossible high ground off the edge of the table. In order to engage them, the poor Russian cavalry would have to charge into this trap, while Prussian artillery fired canister at them as they advanced!

 I lack subtlety as a cavalry commander, so I simply deployed my two cavalry units for a charge - the Tobolski Dragoons first, followed by the Novotroitski Cuirassiers. I wheeled slightly to the left when I advanced, so neither Prussian Hussar unit could catch me in the flank. I can do "gamey" too! Then came the melee. Miraculously enough, both the Prussian Blue and Red Hussars were pushed back, giving the Russians a breathing space. When the battle resumed the Russians cuirassiers had joined the fight, and the Prussian horse was driven from the table, or into the river. Leaving the infantry following on behind to deal with the infantry remnants of the Prussian flanking force, the Russian horse then reformed, ready to charge the main enemy line.

By that time the main Russian force had advanced off their hill, across the river, and on towards the Prussian line. Casualties were very heavy - my Russian grenadiers were shredded (50% casualties) - but at least the force made it across, and into the fray. However, it was obvious that without help, the Russians would be repulsed - the Prussian line remained unbroken, and their musketeers were pouring a withering fire into the Russian ranks. Fortunately for me, that was the moment when the Prussian flanking force collapsed. With a horde of Russian cavalry about to appear on their left flank, the main Prussian force had little option but to concede the field, and to pull back.

The game was a nicely balanced one, even though Dougie complained that the Russian cavalry was heavy or medium, while his were light. Well, if you want to use your pretty hussars, then that's the price you pay... In the real Boyne battle, the flanking force was halted, while the main attacking force managed to fight its way over the river and on to victory. This time it was the main force who became stalled, and the flankers who won the day. Thanks again, Charles, for a nicely balanced scenario, and one which was perfectly suited to a gentle evening's gaming, and to our Seven Years War armies and rules!

Seven Years War section               Die Kriegskunst playsheet       Die Kriegskunst rules

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South of Madrid, 1937 - Spanish Civil War (Back to Barcelona) 20mm

Sometimes it's nice when you don't have to bring along any troops - someone else does it for you. Well, this game was staged by Bill Gilchrist and Colin Jack, using their collection of 20mm figures. The Republicans (Loyalists) had to hold a defensive line, as they were protecting the vital Talavera Bridge somewhere just off the table. The Nationalists (Rebels or Fascists) were attacking, using their elite Army of Africa troops as their spearhead.

Frankly, victory was never in much doubt. Bill and his Nationalist co-commander seemed to prefer advancing in the open, and soon ran into a crossfire from loyalist machine guns. two of mine manned by the International Brigade were deployed on a crest, behind a small copse. They scythed through the advancing Moors, saw off another wave of Foreign Legionaries and their transport, and then the rest of the Moors went to ground.

On the far side of the table the Republicans weren't having things all their own way. This flank was held by Anarchist militiamen (mainly from the CNT), who held their ground in a small olive grove in the centre of the table, until driven back. A rather optimistic flank attack came to naught, and the hapless militiamen were duly ridden down by a unit of Moorish cavalry. However, just when things began to look a little shaky, Republican reinforcements arrived, in the form of a platoon of old tanks (Renault FT-17's). While the Nationalists might have made some headway, they weren't going to get anywhere near the road leading off the table towards the bridge. By the end of the evening the surviving fascists were in full retreat, and the bridge remained securely in the hands of the Spanish Republic. 

Oh, I forgot to say - aircraft appeared over the table, but apart from a little light strafing and a fruitless dogfight, neither the Republican Polikarpov or the Nationalist Messerschmitt achieved anything, apart from looking cool! I really like those little Polikarpov I-16's...

The rules - Back to Barcelona - are a variant of Chris Peers' Contemptible Little Armies. Like any rules from this stable the combat was extremely bloody, the game mechanisms were unerringly simple, and the game itself moved along at a great pace.  I didn't even have to call out my reserves; a French battalion of the International Brigade, who spent the game sitting behind a hill, waiting to launch a counter-attack which wasn't needed.

All in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable game, made all the better because the good guys won! 

You can download a copy of the Back to Barcelona playsheets here  (Word File).

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Wassaw Sound, Georgia (near Savannah), June 1963 (Smoke on the Water) 1/600th scale

For a change we ran off to sea this week, or rather to a tidal estuary. We decided we hadn't played a naval game for a long time, and consequently we dug out our American Civil War ships. The game was loosely based on the battle between the Confederate ironclad Atlanta and the Union monitors Weehawken and Nahant, fought in Wassaw Sound, in the mouth of the Savannah River in June 1863. As this was a rather one-sided affair for our game we added a wooden sidewheel steamer to either side, and a second Confederate ironclad - the CSS Savannah.

The game was fought out on a 6x4 foot table, lined with low-lying marshes and reed beds. The Confederates also had the advantage of a small coastal battery, covering the upper reaches of the Savannah River. The battle began with the two sides closing the distance, with the wooden sidewheel steamer USS Sebago hanging back from the fight. Her Confederate counterpart the CSS Beauregard (a fictitious renaming of the Governor Moore model by Peter Pig) had no such scruples, and rammed the monitor USS Weehawken. Both ships were slightly damaged in the collision, but not enough to put them out of action. The Atlanta also rammed the Nahant, although as she was armed with a spar torpedo this a little more serious. The damned thing didn't detonate, and both ironclads scraped down each other, the Confederates firing a broadside which caused damage to the enemy's hull and turret. So far so good for the Bubbas...

The reason the Union monitor didn't fire back was quite simple - her crews were busy reloading their guns! In fact, that was their big disadvantage. While most Confederate guns could reload in three turns, the reloading of guns in turrets was a slower business, and this took five turns - or eight for the "super-heavy" 15-inch Dahlgrens!  The game then degenerated into a lot of circling around, another unsuccessful ramming attempt by the Savannah, and a fair amount of trading shots at close range. Both sides suffered damage, but the Union monitors were so well protected that damage was minimal. Even their squat smokestacks were heavily armoured! After three hours of this - and some heavy beer drinking - both naval commanders decided to call it a day - and a draw. If anything the game was a slight moral victory for the Confederates. They caused more damage, and managed to hold their own against a pair of very dangerous monitors. The mint juleps would be flowing in Savannah that evening...

The rules we used were Smoke on the Water, which give a fairly realistic game, and is fairly fast paced, despite firing each gun individually. that said,  using the optional "reload times" rule for guns dramatically influences the pace and flavour of the game. We think it makes it more interesting - and gives the Confederates a fighting chance - but others might prefer the more enjoyable but less realistic option of blasting away each turn. Oh, incidentally, the rules ask you to mark vessel speed by putting down markers ("S" for Slow, "M" for medium etc.). We prefer little squares painted to look like ship's wakes -one for slow, two for medium, three for fast etc. It looks much better, and it works.

You can download the rules for free from Canis Publications

I also designed my own ship cards, as the ones they suggested using in the rules were just plain ugly. You can download a sample of my ones here (a zipped Word File), but they might take a while to download. The ships we used were a mixture of Thoroughbred and Peter Pig ones, while the sea mat came from Richard at Terrain Mat. The reed beds were spray-painted scraps of teddy bear fur - I'll improve on them the next time by sticking 'em on bases, but otherwise they looked the part.

American Civil War Naval Page

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American Civil War - very loosely based on the Battle of Perryville, 1862 (Ever Victorious Armies - variant) 28mm

It was only afterwards that I noticed most of my pictures were fuzzy - hence the strange photo layout for this lot. This American civil War bash was a real multi-player affair, organised by Jack Glanville. My contribution was two brigades of Confederates, supported by artillery, including Braxton's Fredericksburg Btty. (pictured above). The scenario was very loosely based on the Battle of Perryville, fought in the wilds of Kentucky. The only difference was that the sides were switched (the historical Confederates became the wargaming Union troops), and there were thousands of Yankees on the table. Worse still, most of the heavily-outnumbered Confederates were classed as raw, while the Union troops seemed to be average, veteran or elite! Switching sides can be a bummer...

Anyway, with so much lead (and an awful lot of Perry plastic) on the table, the battle started with the two sides within spitting distance. Even by ACW standards this was a crowded game, with Union units stacked up behind each other like walking logjams. There wasn't much tactical finesse involved either - the Union regiments advanced for a turn or two, the Confederates sometimes managed to fell a few as they charged home, and then it was a swirl of melee, fought right across the table! You see, this wasn't my usual gaming crowd - most of these were Warhammer (WAB) players who'd changed periods for the evening. Consequently tactical nuances went out the window, and it was more akin to Gaugamela than Gettysburg!

In almost every case, the outnumbered Confederates were slaughtered. Due to a loophole in the rules (this was a variant of a Chris Peers set after all), the whole logjam got to count in melee, which meant that melees were often fought with 20 defenders against 80 opponents! The result was largely inevitable. The only bright spot as far as I could see that my guns performed sterling work, cutting down swathes of the enemy before half of them were overrun. By the time the dust settled there were very few Confederate units left on the table - my own command (the reserve) deciding to skedaddle than face the ravenous Union horde advancing like a Zulu impi on speed!

Clearly the rules need a lot of tweaking. Firing and movement needs to be tightened up, we need to introduce a test for charging into contact (a rarity in the war), and then the melee procedures need to be rewritten. That said, it produced a fast game, and everyone seemed to pick up the rules very quickly. They have potential, but they need work - plus a smaller and less unbalanced scenario to try them out in.  You could even help us out, by looking at the playsheet, and coming up with suggestions.

 Draft Playsheet for Ever Victorious Armies (ACW variant)

This game involved about ten players, each commanding a brigade-sized force. Some of them were first-time wargamers, having been tempted from the dark side of fantasy gaming. I hope the experience didn't put them off, although I can't blame them if it did, especially if they were Confederate! I watched one veteran gamer and owner of a wargame related company (who'll remain nameless) shamelessly cackling as he pulled apart the brigade of one of these "newbies" without showing any mercy or trying to be gentle about it! That's why I don't have any truck with the cutthroat world of competition gaming - faced with gentlemanly rules with loopholes, it sometimes brings out the worst in people!

Oh, another rant - movement trays. A lot of WAB players use them. However, they're ugly as sin, and ruin the look of the battlefield, especially when casualties reveal an plain wooden tray, covered in white metallic card. Just look at the photo above to see what I mean. It just looks like the owner is happy to spoil the visual appeal of the game, just because he's too lazy to move five bases rather than one. The only advantage I could see was that faltering units on big movement trays held up the logjam behind them. Of course, that makes me sound as "gamey" as the WAB crowd, doesn't it?!

American Civil War page

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