Steve's Random Musings on Wargaming and other stuff...

Saturday, August 2

"Firing into the Brown" #87 - "call that 6 inches?", Rebel gold, and stuff..

"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another update..

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A mate and I went down to the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard for a look around the other day and I was delighted that I could finally get that closer look at the forward gun on M33, the WW1 era Monitor [clicky] that I'd wanted - the weather has always meant that the covers have been closed on previous trips.... 😏

During the years (and years) that M33 had luckily been surviving by constantly changing function and purpose, the original guns had long been removed (certainly pre-WW2 I think), but during conservation they had managed to find two suitable replacements - and the forward gun (following) is by far and away the more accurate of the two*.

Note the date and the brass bit over the breech..

It's a Mk. XIIB gun and came from the gunnery training school, HMS Excellent, on Whale Island. Per the markings W.B. & Co were William Beardmore and Company ( a Clyde based engineering conglomerate) and it was made in 1917 - this was Britain's most modern 6-inch naval gun when World War I began and was usually the main armament of the light cruisers so the Monitors had teeth! The original guns on M33 had originally been intended for the Queen Elizabeth class of battleship (where they were secondary guns) but they were surplus to requirements following design changes in the battleship..

I was talking to one of the volunteers and he said that they had used this particular one to test different charges, in most cases way over the manufacturers specifications - if you look in the picture at the brass item above the breech, I believe this was to allow (very) remote firing, to protect crew against the effects of perhaps blowing the block, or the gun exploding..

Breech block..

It's on a MkIX mounting - following - no idea who would have made this but I guess Vickers, or maybe even Beardmore's again..

Gun layers position (following)..

...and that canvas bag on the side - following - is an example of what the powder charge would have been delivered in - so in order, shell first, then canvas/charge bag, and then detonator/initiator in a cup in the breech block..

Fascinating and my thanks to the volunteer on duty that day - really approachable and informative guy.. ex-matelot of course! 😊

* The rear gun, while the right type, came off a Chilean battleship - but that's a rabbit hole for another post.. 😁

Wednesday, July 30

"Firing into the Brown" #86 - Top 10's, quotes and decluttering and stuff..

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another update.. long over time in fact.. apologies - far too busy elsewhere, but also far too warm to be gaming in the loft...

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I've also been busy starting that declutter that all of us elderly wargamers will inevitably have to do if we are not to leave all the stuff to our children and loved ones to sort out.. yeah not cheerful, but a lifetime in the hobby has resulted in me having bookshelves and boxes full of stuff that is potentially of value, but which I haven't looked at in most cases since the time I bought it on a whim.. unless I do it now, it will probably end up in a skip or the recycling so a plethora of rules/magazines and games will be hitting eBay

It's a long term activity that will probably pick up pace in the autumn/winter - but the first steps have been made, and amazingly I've already shifted more than £350's worth of stuff and I haven't even made a dent in the pile!

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So here is version 2 of the Top 10.. still a work in progress... no rankings yet, as I'd like to get the list of entries first.. and having said that I'm not sure I even will rank them - the beauty of a book is that it's effect on you can change with the times and moods, and so it's ranking can also change... maybe a list will do... it's also hugely difficult to even stick to just 10, never mind having to rank them! 😏

'Pied Piper' - Nevil Shute - so many Nevil Shute books could go in the list but if I had to chose just one this would be it (next would be 'Trustee from the Toolroom')
'Winter in Madrid' - CJ Sansom - another author with so many good books - he is the author who wrote the Shardlake series - but I am choosing one, and this one is set in Madrid at the end of the Civil War and when we were all holding our breath to find out whether Franco would come in to the war.. if not this, then 'Dominion'
'Day of the Jackal' - Forsyth - for all the reasons previously mentioned but mostly because this was a genre defining book
'Captain Correlli's Mandolin' - Louis de Bernières - an absolute tour de force that I kick myself repeatedly for not having read sooner, and will read again soon (in fact as of writing I've just finished it 😀)..
'Lord of the Rings' - Tolkien of course - not fair you shout, as there are three books, so if I had to choose one it would be for the first one 'The Fellowship of the Ring'
Jack Aubrey series by Patrick O'Brian.. 21 books in all but if I had to pick one it would be 'The Reverse Of The Medal'.. the "off hats!" passage causes the eyes to go blurry every bloody time... utter genius..

NB. To set the scene Aubrey has been arrested and sentenced to the pillory on politically motivated charges of financial exploitation of the Stock Market (he's too trusting by half when on land! 😏)

“Jack was led out of the dark room into the strong light, and as they guided him up the steps he could see nothing for the glare. 'Your head here sir, if you please,' said the sheriff's man in a low, nervous, conciliating voice, 'and your hands just here.'

The man was slowly fumbling with the bolt, hinge and staple, and as Jack stood there with his hands in the lower half-rounds, his sight cleared: he saw that the broad street was filled with silent, attentive men, some in long togs, some in shore-going rig, some in plain frocks, but all perfectly recognizable as seamen. And officers, by the dozen, by the score: midshipmen and officers. Babbington was there, immediately in front of the pillory, facing him with his hat off, and Pullings, Stephen of course, Mowett, Dundas . . .

He nodded to them, with almost no change in his iron expression, and his eye moved on: Parker, Rowan, Williamson, Hervey . . . and men from long, long ago, men he could scarcely name, lieutenants and commanders putting their promotion at risk, midshipmen and master's mates their commissions, warrant-officers their advancement.

'The head a trifle forward, if you please, sir,' murmured the sheriff's man, and the upper half of the wooden frame came down, imprisoning his defenceless face. He heard the click of the bolt and then in the dead silence a strong voice cry 'Off hats'. With one movement hundreds of broad-brimmed tarpaulin-covered hats flew off and the cheering began, the fierce full-throated cheering he had so often heard in battle.”

'Secret Water' - Arthur Ransome - part of his 'Swallows and Amazons' series (from which I could probably have chosen any book), but I think on balance this is the one I liked the most, and from a series which for me kick-started a life long love of sailing..
'Wolf Hall' - Hilary Mantel - part of the fictional trilogy on Thomas Cromwell - what a stunning imagination she had... a close run thing with 'The Mirror and the Light' which I may still nominate instead..
'An Officer and a Spy' - Robert Harris - another master storyteller - a host of good books to his name but this one (and perhaps the latest one about Asquith) is his tour de force.. in my opinion anyway 😏
'Mohawk Valley' - Ronald Welch - as a young teen with an insatiable interest in all things military history and wargaming, Welch was my go-to writer - I could have nominated any one of a half dozen of his other books ('Knight Crusader' and 'Sun of York' in particular) but this one I waited over 40 years to get a copy of, and that says it all!
'Dark Materials'/'Book of Dust' series by Phillip Pullman - my goodness WHAT an imagination.. five books so far, waiting on the third in the 'Book of Dust' series as we speak but if I have to choose one though, for me it would either by the 'Amber Spyglass' or 'The Secret Commonwealth' - the skill and ability to conjure up an entirely believable, and entirely separate, reality, and then weave in a story with many characters is a rare, rare skill...

....that'll do for now - still need to whittle the 12 down to 10 never mind the others I'd like to add...!

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“Those whom the gods love, die young.” (Menander)

“Man is a dream of a shadow.” (Pindar)

“Even the gods cannot change the past.” (Agathon - possibly Homer)

“Like the generations of leaves, the lives of mortal men. Now the wind scatters the old leaves across the earth, now the living timber bursts with the new buds and spring comes round again. And so with men: as one generation comes to life, another dies away.” (Homer, The Iliad)

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Laters, as the young people are want to say...

Saturday, July 12

Incursion at Spencer's Farm..

Time for another update.. and a game for a change!

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Preamble..

The Union have sent a couple of ships to try and force their way up a river past Spencer's Farm in order to, firstly, do a recon of the upper reaches of the river, and secondly, cause the Confederates to divert some forces that might be used elsewhere more profitably.. the Confederates in the face of the incursion, pull together a scratch force to oppose them.

Rules used were the venerable Bill Gilchrist ones from way back (I first got them in about 2017 I think) as used by the Edinburgh Wargames Society before they seemed to die a death with the migration of Angus Konstam to the outer Scottish isles (well Orkney anyway 😏)! I think Bill hoped that they might get published by Osprey, so I won't post them here as they still might be, but some background posts on them can be found here [clicky]..

To my mind they give a playable game with just enough level of period detail to require some thought, but without the mind numbing detail of figuring out which stage of reloading each gun on a ship is at, etc etc... if they do ever get published I for one will buy a copy the day they're released.

OOB

Confederates

"CSS Mississippi" - (I diced for command level) Experienced

NB. M - Medium; L - Light; SB - Smooth Bore; MLR - Muzzle Loaded Rifled

"CSS Robert E Lee" - Experienced

Union

"USS Ulysses" - Inexperienced

"USS Grant" - Experienced

So a foursome of lightly armoured ships - all with mostly light guns - but the Mediums will do some serious damage if they can hit and penetrate

Move 1

Start of move.. the island with Spencer's Farm at top.. Union bottom right..

Confederates win the initiative and so will move first - and both sides get 4 actions (plus one movement action/turn is always free)

Both Confederate ships advance into range (maximum range is 36") and open fire - but the firing is ineffectual although CSS Lee causes first damage.

Both Union ships also advance, but the Ulysses makes a turn so that it can bring its broadside to bear - all four guns fire but only one hits. The Grant moves further so as to bring the range down, fires it's fore gun at the same target but misses - the Union have clearly decided to focus on just one of the two ships opposite..

End of turn.. black pompom represents a single hit on the ship

Move 2

Union wins the initiative - both sides get 2 actions

Ulysses moves ahead, slowing down, and fires a full broadside hitting Mississippi twice and also causing her to become "confused" (two hits, but then throw again for special hits and get one result; ship cannot shoot or undertake any action other than a straight ahead move and testing to recover Confusion). Grant turns so as to bring it's broadside to bear, moves forward (also slowing down) and fires a full broadside at Mississippi causing one hit but no additional damage. Mississippi is hurt badly and down to half damage.

A disastrous turn for the Confederates - the Mississippi fails to clear its "Confusion" status with a command roll, so trundles forward but with no firing. The Robert E Lee meanwhile turns so as to also brings it's rear gun to bear - fires both and misses badly (snake eyes!)

End of turn.. Mississippi with three hits is badly damaged

Move 3

Confederates win the initiative - both sides get 2 actions

In what may be one of her final actions of the battle, Mississippi finally manages to recover from the Confused condition, turns to bring all guns to bear, and fires hitting Ulysses twice (and also causing her to become Confused!). The Robert E Lee also fires again at Ulysses, hitting once.

In one turn the Confederates have almost evened the score!

The Ulysses fails it's command test to recover from Confusion so can do nothing, but the Grants guns thunder out causing three further hits on the Mississippi causing her to take three 'break off' tests which she passes with flying colours! (Once a ship gets to half strength any further hits result in what is effectively a morale test - - the break off test - if it passes it can carry on, otherwise it will start making for it's own baseline)

End of turn.. high hitting turn.. Mississippi and Ulysses bear the brunt..

Move 4

Confederates win the initiative - both sides get 3 actions

Both Confederate ships are now moving dead slow - Mississippi clearly fully recovered though badly damaged fires a full broadside, again hitting Ulysses three times. The Robert E Lee also fires but misses. It matters not, Ulysses is now almost dead in the water.

The Union ships are also moving dead slow - the Ulysses recovers from being Confused and fires a further broadside at Mississippi hitting once, but this time she fails her command roll causing her to break off the action, threat removed Grants guns change targets and thunder out at Robert E Lee causing three hits!

End of Turn - heaviest damage of the game so far - seven separate hits..

Move 5

Union wins the initiative - both sides get 1 action.

Both Union ships are also moving dead slow but the Ulysses needs to start turning to avoid hitting the island so uses it's action to do a turn; behind her Grants guns thunder out at Robert E Lee causing a further two hits.

Mississippi turns to make a break for home (as a result of the failed morale/command test in the previous move) so cannot fire - the Robert E Lee continues to demonstrate its fire effectiveness missing twice! 😏

End of Turn

Move 6

Union wins the initiative - both sides get 3 action.

Both Union ships are moving dead slow, range is good and this is a hard smashing battle, having turned though Ulysses fires, delivering the coup de grace to Mississippi with three further hits - Mississippi can be seen to be pulling down her ensign - she's out of the battle.

Grants guns thunder out at Robert E Lee causing a further three hits and also taking her below half strength.

Robert E Lee fires at Ulysses hitting once and reducing Ulysses to zero strength - she fails her command roll and is forced to break off the action; although still in the battle her role is largely finished.

End of turn - Mississippi can be seen to have surrendered (yellow pin) on the right the fit on Ulysses results in her also needing to break off the action... despite that, the Union ships have poured on massive amounts of damage

Move 7

Union wins the initiative - both sides get 4 actions.

Ulysses needs to break off so starts turning to head for home - Grant moves forward to clear her stern and unleashes another broadside on Robert E Lee, causing another three hits and Robert E Lee also fails her command test and has to break off the action... to make matters worse she also fails a command test to be able to fire her guns (a requirement when the ship has had a break off action condition)...

End of turn

Move 8

Confederates win the initiative - both sides get 4 actions.

Robert E Lee finally passes a command test and gets off a broadside at Ulysses, hoping to make her strike - she hits, but the following command/morale test is passed and Ulysses uses her actions to steam hard for home - she escapes..

Her compatriot, Grant, still (remarkably) damage free fires off another broadside at Robert E Lee, hitting once and causing her to take a command/morale test which is also passed.

End of turn

Move 9

Union wins the initiative - both sides get 2 actions.

Robert E Lee again fails a command test to fire and continues to turn for home - Grant turns so cannot bring a full broadside to bear but fires once, hitting, and causing another command/morale test which she passes.

End of turn

Move 10

Union wins the initiative - both sides get 4 actions.

Grant, amazingly, still damage free, moves twice to bring her broadside to bear, fires at Robert E Lee, hitting three times, and causing her to take a command/morale test which this time she fails.

Game over for the Confederates

Post Match Analysis:

A hard fought Union victory but a disaster for the Confederacy if the Union can get those damaged ships away - unluckily for them, smoke can be seen beyond the island, looks like the Confederacy has rustled up a relieving force, it's time for the Grant to follow her compatriot.. 😏
Concentrating fire on a single vessel was a tactic worth remembering... damaged vessels can still fire, so better to get them out of the equation rather than spreading your fire..
Light guns against light armour means damage can be done, but penetrating shots (the ones that can cause engine/gun/funnel damage, or Confusion results) are less effective - it was the Mediums doing the bigger penetrating damage
Time I reformatted the rules for easier play I think - everything's there but I want to lay it out a little better, and also fill in some rule interpretations I was using.. (example - the rules say every hit after half damage means the ship has to take a Break off/Morale check - I played it to mean one test per hit, rather than just saying the ship had been 'damaged' and therefore needed a single test)

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Laters, as the young people are want to say...

Sunday, July 6

"Firing into the Brown" #85 - Top 10's, Cambers and stuff..

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another update.. apologies - may be a bit short this week - the weather is monumentally good in the UK at the moment so not attuned to long hours in loft or in front of keyboard... 😏

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While out on Gertrude the other week I happened to find myself on the opposite side of the Camber to where the Camber Bastion would have been, and noticed something interesting.. well I thought it was anyway.. 😁

First some map'ery to orientate ourselves.. the gates are ringed as is the Camber Bastion our focus for today..

X marks the spot..

Photo was taken at X and looking across the basin to where the Bastion would have been... note Bridge Tavern (pub) off left - named for the bridge between this side and the other side where the Gate was...

Close up of what got my attention... look at that brickwork... smacks of original to me... quite exciting.. I do wonder if that is the pointed front edge of the old bastion..??

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I was sitting there the other day having written the blog about Forsyth dying, and thinking I'd really like to put together that top 10 of all time novels I mentioned.. for no other reason than that I like a list, and if you put up a list someone is bound to tell you "your talking out of your ear", "know nothing", "what abut x, y and z", etc etc.. and I like the feedback and hearing what other peoples choices are..

So here is version 1.. a work in progress... no rankings yet, as I'd like to get a list first..

'Wuthering Heights' - that Bronte girl was a story-teller...
'Pied Piper' - so many Nevil Shute books could go in the list but if I had to chose one this would be it
'Winter in Madrid' - CJ Sansom - set in Madrid at the end of the Civil War and when we were all holding our breath to find out whether Franco would come in to the war..
'Day of the Jackal' - Forsyth - for all the reasons previously mentioned but mostly because this was a genre defining book
'Captain Correlli's Mandolin' - Louis de Bernières - an absolute tour de force that I kick myself repeatedly for not having read sooner, and will read again soon..
'Lord of the Rings' - Tolkien of course - not fair you shout, as there are three books, so if I had to choose one it would be for the first one 'The Fellowship of the Ring'
Jack Aubrey series by Patrick O'Brian.. 21 books in all but if I had to pick one it would be 'The Reverse Of The Medal'.. the "off hats!" passage causes the eyes to go blurry every bloody time... utter genius..
'Secret Water' - Arthur Ransome - part of his 'Swallows and Amazons' series of which I could have chose any other book from, but I think on balance this is the one I liked the most, and which for me (among may others) started a life long love of sailing..
'Wolf Hall' - Hilary Mantel - part of the trilogy on Thomas Cromwell - what a stunning imagination she had... a close run thing with 'The Mirror and the Light' which I may still nominate instead..

....that'll do for now - more will come to me... (Pullman 'Dark Materials'?? Simenon's Maigret? Certainly but which one - he wrote 75! Dibden I think as Zen is a fantastic creation, but which one... 😁)

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Laters, as the young people are want to say...

Saturday, June 28

"Firing into the Brown" #84 - 3D, Orleans and stuff..

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

Time for another update..

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By way of a wrap up, and also because this is an amazing 3D mapping project by a very talented lady that (although a trifle "niche" 😁) needs to be seen by more people - the following puts the "Gates" mini project into an overall context..

Note the following we have visited on the blog (click for the post .. if you haven't had enough already 😏):

King James (or Point) Gate at 0.15 sec and 2.50 sec
Camber Bastion at 0.37 sec and 2.41 sec
Kings Bastion and the Spur Redoubt 0.54 sec
King William Gate 1.10 sec
Landport Gate 1.40 sec
Beestons Bastion 2.16 sec
King George (or Quay) Gate 2.37 sec

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Regimental Standard - Copyright: Kronoskaf

Another in the occasional "regiments of renown" series featuring the histories of various regiments painted in haste at the beginning of a project but which were not documented here for posterity.. so we come to French cavalry regiment "Orleans", part of my War of the Spanish Succession collection - this one was quite possibly the first French cavalry unit I painted for the project...

There is a very (very) good potted history of this regiment on the Kronoskaf WSS site (link below) so there's little point in me repeating the (huge amount of) good work completed there, but by way of a framework to hang some 'rabbit holes' on (and I do love a rabbit hole😏) the regiment was first raised in Piedmont (Italy) in 1630 by the Commander de Souvré. The regiment transferred into the French service in May 1635.

The regiment was serving in Flanders at the start of the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-13) and had three squadrons.

As is usually the case the regiment was named after their Colonel, the Duc d’Orléans , but in the field were commanded by these august gentlemen.. unusually (as I've found to now) there seems to be little or no information on these guys other than the tried and trusted information..

Duc de Orleans - Portrait by
Jean-Baptiste Santerre

from 1 May 1693: Jacques-Joseph Vipart, Marquis de Silly (a Knight of the Order of the Holy Spirit no less) -

Silly commanded a brigade of cavalry at Blenheim, comprising his own regiment, plus the Regiment de Montreval, the Regiment de St. Pouanges and the Regiment de Ligonday - about 500 men in all, in 9 squadrons..
from what little I have managed to find out about him "..he is said to have been of a haughty and arrogant disposition and after attaining the rank of Lieutenant Général des Armées du Roi he put an end to his life by throwing himself out of a window in a paroxysm of mortified ambition" (from the forward to the "Memoirs of Madame de Staal de Launay" a lady who had fancied him but not had her feelings returned, but despite that cast him in a more pleasant light than most seemed to.. 😏)
he was wounded, and taken prisoner at Blenheim and the regiment was then given to ..

from 25 December 1704 to 6 March 1719: Nicolas-Louis Grostête* de Jouy

apparently an outside choice for the command of the regiment, and someone who the Duc de Orleans had gone outside of the box to choose. From what I can tell the concerns were mainly due to Nicolas's lack of influence or seniority in terms of aristocracy..
he was clearly able as he commanded the brigade after Silly's absence and on at least two occasions was trusted to take them on missions away from the army

*Grostête doesn't that translate as fat-head?? 😐

War service by year:

1701 in Flanders
1702 combat of Nijmegen
1703 siege and capture of Alt-Breisach; Siege of Landau; Combat of Speyerbach
1704 Battle of Blenheim
1705 in Alsace being brought back up to strength
1706 operations on the Rhine.
1707 transferred to Flanders
1708 Battle of Oudenarde
1709 Battle of Malplaquet
1711 Combat of Arleux
1712 Battle of Denain; siege and recapture of Douai; Siege and recapture of Le Quesnoy; Siege and recapture of Bouchain.
1713 transferred to the Rhine; capture of Landau and Freiburg.

These are Dixon's and painted and based by me some time pre-2006, and as I say probably one of the first regiments I painted - I have a curious antipathy towards flags for my cavalry units - so there isn't one.. 😏