Jan and John

The (Second) Boer War, famously touted as being “over by Christmas”, lasted from 1899 to 1902. Its lessons were ruinous on a personal level and important on an institutional one. Thousands of British and Imperial citizen-soldiers died needlessly carrying out antiquated tactical manoeuvres against modern weaponry, but under the hot African sun, the British army learnt the lessons that would carry it through the maelstrom of 1914. 

The Boer War bridged the 19^th and 20^th centuries in more ways than the simply chronological. The British went into battle holding to the Napoleonic forms of the Crimea, albeit with khaki uniforms. By now too used to fighting native forces with more courage than bullets, the Boers with their German rifles and French artillery were a nasty shock. Battalions shook out into looser and looser formations as the war went on. The creeping artillery bombardment made its debut, as did the horror of the concentration camp once the war hit its guerilla phase. The Irish Brigade that fought for the Boers brought home valuable experience to the Republican Army. The African school born in the Sudan and brought to fruition here included French, Haig, Gough and Kitchener. It is in some ways fair to say that, in commanders as well as tactics, the British Army of 1914 was created on the bushveldt in 1900.

I've always enjoyed transitional periods, struggling with tactics in the same way (hopefully) as contemporary commanders. That is why I was delighted when Richard Clarke of the Too Fat Lardies very generously gave me the chance to playtest his Kop That! Rules for the Boer War. It was as fascinating as the war itself to see the interplay of TFL mechanics with the asymmetric nature of the conflict. Though in the early months the Boers took the strategic offensive, they were tactically defensive for the greatest part of the war, only attacking in small scale raids.

Another thing about the Boer War, as alluded to in the title, is the fellow-feeling and hatred between the participants. Both sides were white, northern European Protestants who felt a certain level of kinship, which made the war all the crueller as both sides ground towards their inevitable bloody conclusion – almost like a civil war.

Apart from the fact that the Boers took on the British Empire on purpose, the scale of the veldt is one of the most eye-opening things about the conflict. The terrain was totally unlike the cramped fields and hedgerows of European warfare – wide, open, and studded with flat, rocky hills. Mr Clarke uses 6mm to display the grandeur of the African terrain, but I have only small tables, so I stuck with my 2mm.

Irregular Miniatures provided me with quite a lot for my £25. Despite a lot of spare cavalry, limbers, wagons, officers and a few un-based infantry, I already have 128 stands, which represent approximately 1,700 Boers with officers and 6 guns, against 4,300 British and officers with 9 guns. This of course does not count off-table artillery! I'll be adding plenty more cavalry to both sides, and using some of my modern 2mm to provide maxim guns to everybody.

In game terms, this gives five full-size British battalions with artillery and four squadrons of cavalry in support. The Boers fought in irregularly sized formations called commandos, so further labels than numbers aren't really helpful outside a specific battle. As the start of a collection, not at all shabby! And as ever, Irregular's turnaround was exemplary.

The Boers and British at their staging posts on Plas Ticktrey Kop.

Teasers

I've decided to test Kop That! before putting my African scenery together. If anyone knows where to get cheap coir matting or stiff carpet in the Nottingham, UK area, please do say. Therefore, my inaugural scenario will take place not in the Bush, but in the agricultural areas around Ladysmith, during Buller's pushback after Spion Kop and the bloodshed over the Tugela. More on that story, later...

The Battle of Laufenburg

I had a very late game of Volley and Bayonet last night, and given its 10pm-1am nature, no pictures were taken as the Duke of Cumberland and his German allies protected the road to Hanover from the advance elements of la Grande Armée.

It was a 3500 point game on a 4x4 board, which looked like this:

The Laufenfluss river crossing the board there.

The Allies were defending their lines of communication at the south of the board from the French, who attacked from around the Grauberg hill in the distance.

It was a close game until a routing Dragoon unit dissipated the French left, routing them off the board edge they were hugging. Overall, it was full of magnificent Napoleonic imagery. 

In the east, at Laufenburg, the Ruritanian Berhauß Division was quickly cleared out at bayonet-point, except for the Grenz, who lost the castle to the French assault but kept the heights despite all attacks on their position. The King of Ruritania himself led his cavalry in two counter-attacks to avenge his broken division, the first of which was bloodily repulsed by the 26th Ligne, but the second of which broke the back of the French Dragoon division and routed the entire flank.

At the bridges of Lopkopf in the centre, the 2nd Guards brigade faced down a division of the Imperial Guard, pouring such a weight of fire across the bridges that they were burnt and broken in their toils.

In the west by Tauchen Hill, the 95th Rifles (I know, they didn't exist yet) sold their lives dearly in the village below, slowing Du Vallon's division long enough for the Brunswickers and British 2nd and 3rd Divisions to make a line of iron across the valley and the ajoining Hugel Heights that an entire corps of the French threw themselves in vain. By the close of the battle at around four in the afternoon, around 10,000 Frenchmen had died in between Tauchen and Hugel, for the loss of maybe 1500 Allies. Behind them, the Brunswick Hussars had slaughtered their way through the brittle Provincial division.

Even in the moment of the Allied triumph, the French showed their quality as a titanic cavalry battle took place on the south bank of the Laufenfluss and the British Heavy Brigades were scattered. But it was too little too late, and Maréchal Mouranne had to retreat to explain his failure to the Ogre himself...

Man of the Match: Variously the British 2nd Guards Brigade who held up the French centre by themselves, or the Ruritanian Liebgard cavalry who by lucky circumstance routed a flank by themselves. Either way, by the end of play the game was solidly the Allies'. I really need to paint up a few more divisions so that a couple of failed assaults no longer mean game over for a significant portion of the army.

A Return to Action

It's been quite quiet here at A-history Central recently, what with me moving house and everything. But there's been a bit of movement on the Damn Battleships front, including a new table mat and a couple of battles between perfidious Albion and la belle France.

Having played the French, I'm a bit gutted that they lost both times, but DBSA gives a fun, fast game. Neither Iskander or I are bona fide knowledgeers on the period (1890-1905), but he's done well wielding the might of the Royal Navy against la Republique. Our tactics have been pretty blunt (charge!, mostly), but his ships have come through unscathed pretty regularly, while my own have taken horrific casualties.

I was pleased, however to sink the HMS Euryalus in my last game. She was the queen of the battlefield in her maiden voyage, sinking destroyers, cruisers and battleships with abandon.

My only kill, but still. Here she is, the Lady of the Match:

Just before her sinking. Crippled, heavily damaged, but still floating.

I enjoy DBSA, and I'm thinking adding a Russian fleet to go with a colonial project (either DBA-Hx or Volley and Bayonet) based on an Indian front in the Russo-Japanese War.

Hopefully I'll have more regular posts with more pictures now I'm in the new casa.

Civil Blood Makes For Sharp Practice

Having bought TFL's Sharp Practice rules a few weeks ago and having enjoyed my initial read-through, I really wanted to test them out. Therefore, in a fit of total sanity, I bought a few packs of Navwar's 1700s British Infantry and '45 Jacobites to run a sort of home-based 1700s COIN campaign. But painting takes time, and my queue is already huge – so I'm going to try out the rules using my 20mm Napoleonic figures. Of course, I only have British...

Two duties, both alike in dignity,

In fair England where we set our scene,

From old injustice break to new mutiny,

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

Duty and fair-feeling, both reviled,

Do come with shot and powder to a dusty field,

And over bodies shall their victory claim...

Iambic nonsense intro over now.

The Nore Mutiny has spread to the landsmen! Several companies' worth of infantry have risen up in arms against their mistreatment by the army, and are marching on the Home Counties to exact their vengeance on the estates of those generals and MPs who have ignored their suffering.

Standing against them are only a few men of the experimental Rifle Brigade, who will now have their first baptism by fire against their fellow countrymen, in the first battle between Englishmen on English soil in 150 years.

N.B. The Nore Mutiny was in 1797 and the Rifles formed in 1800. I am aware of this, as is my time machine.

The forces:

8 Elite Light Infantry, led by IV Big Man Captain Gideon Frost

vs

3x 8 Regular Infantry, led by III Big Man Sergeant Hawker and II Big Man Sergeant Crow.

The cards:

Big Man cards for all three Big Men

Tiffin

Sharp Practice

Grasp The Nettle I-IV, Prenez le saucisson I-III (for propaganda purposes, mutineers are basically Frenchmen)

With this many bonus cards for so few Big Men, it should be a fast-moving game.

The Objectives

Frost and his men need to delay the mutineers long enough for the staff of the estates beyond to flee and the yeomanry to take their place. If no mutineers cross the Rifle board edge before the end of Turn 10, it is a Major Victory.

Hawker and his mutineers are determined to get what's theirs before the yeomanry turn up and ruin everything! If he can get half his starting troops off the Rifle board edge by the end of Turn 10, he gets a Major Victory.

The Game

Hawker's card comes up first, and gesturing his men on with his stolen sword, he moves two groups onto the table, though their motivation could not be more different (snake-eyes and boxcars for movement). 

Some of these troops are not like the others.

Two Rifle initiative cards later, Crow's card comes up, and more mutineers arrive.

Quick lads! To the mansions! And... and whatever mansions have!

By the time Frost's card appears, he has three initiative points available above and beyond his Big Man IV status. It's a bit of a waste this early in the game, but hey ho. SHOOTING!

There are eight riflemen, so we start with 8 dice. They are elite, so we move to 10, adding +2d6 for their first volley. Twelve dice, hitting on 4s, since they are skirmishers with Baker rifles. 12 dice, 6 hits, 5 points of shock. Scary, yes. Lethal... not so much. One Tap-Reload later, and the Rifles end their turn. Frost has 6 spare initiative points left. Tiffin!

 
Sharp Practice is the second card out of the deck, and Frost's riflemen unload at the nearest mutineers. They only get 10 dice hitting on 5s this time, but do two more points of shock.

Crow moves the closest two groups, but still can't get the middlemen to crack on. As they linger, Frost's men tap and fire again, doing a point of shock and finally killing two men. Overwhelmed by the volume of fire received, the mutineers lose their bottle just as the Tiffin card comes up (and with 2 extra initiative points for the sluggish Sergeant Hawker). They retire.

Crow again takes the lead, encouraging the centre group forwards with tender epithets and curses before surging onwards with his prize section.

Deciding to rely on fate, Frost orders his men to reload properly – and the Tiffin card strikes again. Hawker's group fire a desultory volley, but with only 4 dice hitting on 6s, they do... well, nothing.

 
Sharp Practice opens the new turn, and Frost's boys, all loaded up, open fire on Crow's lads. Here is where I realised that the Rifles had been missing out on 4 dice a turn thanks to Frost's Status. 15 dice of hell rained down on the adventurous mutineers, causing a casualty and six shock points.

Hawker finally got a look in on the game, and used all his status to remove shock from his battered group. Smirking, Crow took a point of shock from his group and egged them on further. As they did, Frost got his lads to quickly reload and fire at the approaching enemy, causing another 4 points of shock and causing even these most enterprising of brigands to lose their bottle too.

Frost got the first initiative of the new turn and decided to test out the combat mechanics. One charge and 15 dice later, the Rifles had slain two of Crow's lads and laid an extra 3 shock points on them. Despite only having 4 dice to respond with, the mutineers killed a rifleman and gave a point of shock before retiring post-haste. Luckily for Frost (having realised that there was no consolidation mechanic), the Tiffin card reared its beautifully timed head, causing Crow's men to retire still further, covered by the central mutineers who inflicted two more points of shock on the valiant riflemen.

Yarr, stabbing!

Yarr... we be exposed, cap'n.

As turn 6 started, Frost had to consider his mission objectives. With five effective turns of play left, any mutineer group would need straight 8+s for movement every turn. And his men were exposed in their current position... It was time to become children of the corn once more and take cover in the fields. As it happened, Tiffin occurred before any of the characters on the field of battle could do a thing. Mutineers reloaded and turn 7 began.

Using an initiative card, Crow cursed shock off his men, but they still refused to move forwards. Hawker's men, on the other hand, surged onwards. Luckily for Frost, all his Grasp the Nettle cards came up before his action card did. With three free initiatives, he banished his crew's shock before retiring with them towards the cornfield.

Turn 8 began with Hawker leapfrogging his men forwards, right into the teeth of Frost's Riflemen. 

Hawker may have forgotten that a double activation wasn't possible.

Smirking at his boss' ineptness, Crow harangued his men into a semblance of order, ready for the next turn. Sharp Practice and Tiffin one after another proved his point, as the Rifles inflicted 6 points of shock in a single volley.

Get off our land!

A series of initiative cards and Tiffin were all that was turn 9, leaving the table in no doubt that the Rifles had won. But how dearly would that victory be bought?

Crow went first, lurching his survivors forwards. Then Frost got his turn, with all four Nettle cards at his disposal. They were wasted. His men retired d6 into the corn, and opened fully rifled fire on the group containing Hawker. A man died, Hawker took a flesh wound and the group lost their bottle again.

In a murderous last gasp, Hawker abandoned his spineless cronies and led the fragile centre group in a charge on the Rifles. 

This is an exact model of 1/72th of a murderous last gasp.

Defending the cornfield as they were, the Rifles got a staggering 21 dice against 
the Hawker's 10. They killed three, but lost four. Being elite, they carried on, and in the second round they defeated Hawker's men, Frost hacking down Hawker himself. As the the hoofbeats of the approaching yeomanry echoed, Frost looked at the losses his men had taken and took comfort in the knowledge that they had proved themselves as soldiers – and that Hawker would taste the King's justice.

Every time you see the Queen's face, a man dies. That's why she stays indoors.

The Aftermath

This game is really fun! I was a little suspicious of card-based activation, but it works really well for showing the friction of it all. I will however be adding a second Tiffin card when I play with my friends, who aren't quite as enamoured of battlefield randomness as I am.

Man of the Match goes to Frost for triumphing against 3:1 odds, and keeping his detachment essentially intact until Hawker's Turn Ten rampage, which absolutely decimated the brave band.

I think one of the best things about this game is that I really started identifying with the characters – the cool and detached Captain Frost, the irascible, cursing Sergeant Crow and the hapless but vindictive Hawker. I will definitely be adding this to my permanent stable! Also, the whole ten turn game took only 50 minutes. Amazing stuff.

Battle of Gallow's Grove, 1864

A DBA-Hx production of the American Civil War

As Sherman marches on the sea, one of Taylor's junior generals, Lt. General Ennis, is sent to protect the agricultural centre of Gallow's Wood with a small division (8 Rifles, 2 Jaeger, 2 Cannon).

As he prepares his defences, a Northern division under General Bartlett (8 Rifles, 2 Jaeger, 2 Cavalry) comes a-knocking. Desperate to spare the town, Ennis advances to battle through the cornfields, blocking the road and daring Bartlett to come to him. The forces meet just as Bartlett exits the small copse known as Gallow's Grove...

McCullough (left) advances against the Union right.

Bartlett orders a general advance.

Union rifle fire recoils the Confederate guns.

Caley's doughty skirmishers hold off McCullough's entire brigade.

A wing battalion disperses under heavy fire.

Weight of fire starts driving Caley back.

The Union centre bounds forward & McCullough's skirmishers attack their flank.

The shattered remnants of Caley's command withdraw.

As dusk settles, the Confederates command the south & east.

Bad dice and Confederate cannon fire shatter the Union centre and drive back the wing.

Caley's men finally founder.

McCullough's skirmishers break the remaining centre battalion.

In one last, desperate, gallant charge, the Union cavalry achieve next to nothing.

As the day dies, Bartlett grimly orders a general withdrawal.

At 7-0 to the Confederates, this was one of the grimmest games of DBA-Hx that I've ever played. Despite an attempt by a third of the Confederates to even the burden of attack, the Union had appalling dice for everything but initiative and consistently drew or lost combats in both sides' bounds.

Man of the Match: Imaginary commander Caley, of the Union Jaegers. Those boys held up 5 elements with 2 for most of the game. It didn't do much, but damned if it wasn't an impressive holding action.

War Library: Callsign Hades

Within the last thirty seconds, I finished the book Callsign Hades by Patrick Bury, Royal Irish Regiment.

It's an emotional journey with 7 Platoon, Ranger Coy, RIR through March-September 2008 in Afghanistan, and is quite simply superb. Despite a hangover, a head cold and a general dislike of autobiographies, I polished this gem off last night after work and this evening. Well written, engrossing and amazingly both a reminder of the human cost of war as well as a rich vein for mining scenarios, I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone interested in modern warfare, the Afghan conflict in particular, or life in the modern British army.

This book has earnt itself a permanent place in my war library, alongside Task Force Helmand, One Bullet Away and NAM Rodger's The Command of the Ocean.

Void and Stars Playtest

I ran a game of Void and Stars down at my Friendly Local Gaming Store, and it was a blast! We had 3 players and me, and a host of engaged on-lookers. One player even decided then and there to apply as a playtester.

We played Imperials vs Colonials at about 1200pts using MSPaint counters, and it was a relatively even game until an excellent bit of manoeuvring by some Imperial escorts resulted in multiple up-the-kilt shots.

Man of the Match: The Imperial MkII Cruiser Onslaught, which killed two ships by herself and commanded the attention of half the Colonial fleet for most of the game. Despite racking up an impressive number of hits, she survived the game a battered, smoking wreck.

Afterthoughts
-  The Imperials never used their Shield Generators. We would have taken much less damage if we had.
- The rules worked very smoothly, and as soon as we managed to remember whether Odd or Even results affected Weapons or Systems, we barely checked the book at all.
- Carriers really need to hang back. They might be one of the few vessels worth bringing to a Dead Stop.