"Firing into the Brown" #95 - “The Noon Stagecoach Wagon Job” game, fort speak, 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.. and the game has been played, and what a load of fun for reasons that will become clear..  😏

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For me, as a solo player, the narrative is always key, but I accept some find the mechanics interesting as well, so each move has both - you can read one or the other (or both), as required..😁

For the dramatis personae I refer you to the previous post [clicky].. the scene opens with the three good guys exiting the cantina after a quick meal...

Move 1:

Characters/order of activation: Jebb (7♤), Clay (4♡), the Deputy (3♤), Weaver (3♧), Shotgun (2♤) and then the Marshall (2♡) 

Shots start to fly as the three men exit the cantina - from across the way one of the bad guys, clearly up to no good, runs across the open ground in front of the cantina. Stopping behind the wagon, he fires at the Deputy as he comes in to sight. The Deputy raises his gun to shoot back, but misses.. 

"I know him", shouts the Marshall, "that's Jebb Carden! Where he is, Clay Hardin ain't far behind"

Sure enough he spots Clay just behind, who skids to a halt behind Jebb to also fire at his trusty deputy, hitting him in the leg and causing Luke to grunt out in pain, but not stopping him getting off a couple of shots at Jebb. He only graze him, but Jebb looks decidedly shaken.

More shots ring out, and the Marshall also spots 'Long Tom' Weaver in the brush behind them - his Winchester smoking. Luke's definitely the focus of attention - he nods at him to let him know he ain't alone in this.

Then out of nowhere he see's Shotgun run past for the steps of the cantina roof - "damn - he's running!" thought the Marshall but had cause to eat his words when Shotgun reached the roof, leant over the parapet, and fires off a barrel from his shotgun at Jebb - "well done old timer!", he shouts..

Time he took part in this little lead party himself. He fires quickly at Jebb, missing him, but spooking the horses on the wagon who snatch jerkily forward, and causing the strongbox to fall off the back of the wagon! 

"What the..!"

..but he has time to react to see Clay now exposed by the movement of the wagon, and fires off a shot at him - he's looking as shocked as Jebb..  pretty clear no one was expecting it to go like this!

Mechanics behind the narrative:

• Jebb (7♤) gets 3 actions as a result of the 7..  moves, aims, and fires at the Deputy who attempts to 'get the draw on him' but fails (NB. Jebb gets +1 for trigger finger) but Jebb then throws snake eyes and misses - Horse spook test no effect
• Clay (4♡) moves to join Jebb and also fires at who fails to 'get the draw on him' too and for his pains the Deputy is hit in the leg - Horse spook no effect. The deputy passes his lily liver test (what in 'Ruthless' is the morale check😁) he also has a +1 bonus for the Marshall's 'commanding presence' trait.
• the Deputy (3♤) - fires twice at Jebb hitting once and only grazing him - horse spooks no effect - Jebb fails his test and becomes lily livered
• Weaver (3♧) fires twice at the Deputy - hitting once but only grazing him - horse spooks no effect - the deputy again passes his lily liver test
• Shotgun (2♤) runs up the stairs on the outside of the cantina - leans over and gives one barrel at Jebb - hits him but only grazes him - horse spooks no effect- Jebb is already lily livered so no need to test again
• the Marshall (2♡) is last to react but fires twice - first at Jebb - the shot misses but spooks the horses, causing the wagon to jerk forward 2", and the cash box to slide off the back onto the ground (two 1's in succession on D6s!) - which reveals Clay as a target, so his second shot is at him grazing Clay, and causing the horses to spook again (another 2"). Clay fails his lily liver test

Move 2:

Characters/ order of activation: Deputy (K♧), the Marshall (7♢), Weaver (5♢), Jebb (4♢) lily livered/yellow pin, Clay (3♡)lily livered/yellow pin, and finally Shotgun (2♧) - the clear pin marks the strongbox on the ground

Conditions are getting downright warm and lead rich out in the open so the Deputy dashes back into the cantina taking up position at the slit window where he fires at Jebb - and is rewarded by the sight of  a blossom of red on his leg and a cry of pain.

The Marshall see's the deputy move into the cantina, weighs up the odds and agrees that's also the best move for him... he needs some cover! Firing rapidly at Clay he also moves into the cantina to the other slit window.

He sees Weaver across the way in the brush looking for targets, and firing at a target above him..  but then the sound of a shotgun above him on the roof - "well Shotgun's certainly ok" he mutters to the Deputy. He then see's both Jebb and Clay move into cover.. and out of sight.. "now where are those two off to.."

Mechanics behind the narrative:

• the Deputy (K♧) moves into the cantina and fires at Jebb from the side window hitting him in the leg - he is already lily livered so no need to test again, and the horse spook test has no effect
• the Marshall (7♢) has 3 actions as a result of the 7 and fires two times at Clay before following the Deputy into the cantina - he hits Clay twice but only grazes him  - he is already lily livered so no need to test again, and the horse spook test has no effect
• Weaver (5♢) fires twice at Shotgun on the roof of the cantina - Shotgun counts partial cover - he hits once but only grazes him.. Shotgun passes his lily liver test - no horse spook test required as they are too far away
• Jebb (4♢) - fails to recover from being lily livered and as a result must move immediately to cover - once there he snaps off a shot at long range and further negative modifiers at Shotgun and not surprisingly misses - no horse spook test required as too far away
• Clay (3♡) - passes his lily liver test and recovers but is alone in the open so moves to cover with Jebb, he fires at long range at Shotgun and misses  - no horse spook test required as too far away
• Shotgun (2♧) - fires off his last barrel at Weaver - only grazes him - and drops down behind the parapet wall to reload - the horse spook test has no effect - Weaver fails his lily liver test

Move 3:

Characters/order of activation: the Marshall (A ♤), the Deputy (A♢), Clay (A♧),Weaver (10♧), Shotgun (9♤) and finally Jebb (8♧) - yellow pins for lily livered, and the clear pin for the strongbox

With no other targets the Marshall fires twice at Weaver across the way in the scrub and is rewarded with a shout of pain and Weaver dropping in to cover.. the hammer clicks on an empty chamber - he's out of bullets! By his side the deputy also fires twice, and hears another grunt of pain.. 

Meanwhile, Jebb and Clay move to the lead horses on the wagon - keeping them between them and the cantina for cover..

On the roof Shotgun reloads.

Weaver is strangely quiet..

Mechanics behind the narrative:

• Ace heavy turn..  and yes I did shuffle them.. 😁
• the Marshall (A♤) - at the right of the two windows - fires twice at Weaver in partial/soft cover - hitting him twice in leg and chest - Weaver already lily livered - the Marshall is out of bullets for his revolver - no horse spook test required as too far away
• the Deputy (A♢) - at the left of the two windows also fires twice at Weaver in partial/soft cover - also hitting him twice - in the arm, and for a second time in the chest, killing him outright - no horse spook test required as too far away
• Clay (A♧) swaps cards with Jebb as the Ace is also a 'recover from lily livered' card
• Jebb (now A♧) gets an automatic recover from lily livered and moves twice to the front horse of the wagon
• Weaver (10♧) - dead - though the Deputy and the Marshall don't know it yet
• Shotgun (9♤) - loads both barrels (action) and raises his head over the parapet to see what's going on (action)
• Clay (now 8♧) - joins Jebb at the front of the wagon

Move 4:

Characters/order of activation: Jebb (Q♢), the Marshall (K♢), Shotgun (8♡), the Deputy (5♤) - Weaver (red pin) is dead

At the head of the wagon Jebb and Clay have a quick conversation to agree the plan and Jebb grabs the lead horses collar, and encourages it to step backwards so as to encourage the rest of the team to push the wagon back towards the strong box..

In the cantina the Marshall and his Deputy reload, but are surprised to see Shotgun hurtle down the ladder from a rooftop door and then sprint out the back door..  he just has time to let them know what Jebb and Clay are up to, and "by the way - you plugged the guy in the scrub out back, he's dead"..

At the wagon, Clay moves with it and positions himself by the rear to keep an eye on the cantina door

Mechanics behind the narrative:

• Jebb (Q♢) - uses both actions to walk the horses backwards towards the cantina (and the strong box!) - had to play the movement distance by ear as it's not stated, but I assume that with two moves, and the fact that the wagon had only spooked forwards 4" that would be good
• the Marshall (K♢) - spends his two actions reloading
• Shotgun (8♡) - exits the cantina by the terrace door, and the door at the back and run across the open ground up the stairs to the terrace of the second house 
• the Deputy (5♤)  - also spends his two actions reloading
• Clay (2♢) moves to the back of the wagon - in cover to keep an eye on the front door of the cantina - he takes the action to reload

Move 5:

Characters/order of activation: Marshall (A♡), Clay (K♡), Shotgun (Q♡), Jebb (J♡), the Deputy (J♧) - Weaver (red pin) is dead

Now fully loaded, the Marshall follows Shotgun out of the back door - he can see him on the roof of the house opposite and runs across to the far corner of it to see if he can get a clear line of sight on either Jebb or Clay.

At the wagon, Clay moves, picks up the strong box, and slides it back into the wagon, just as the sound of a shotgun bellows out from the roof of the house opposite the cantina.

..."the sound of a shotgun bellows out from the roof of the house opposite the cantina"...

Clay shouts "I'm ok... it's done!", and Jebb starts to lead the horses forward, ducking down behind them to get as much cover as possible..

The Deputy meanwhile moves to the front door of the cantina and can see Clay in the open - a clear target! He fires and hits him in the arm...

"The Deputy meanwhile moves to the front door of the cantina"....

Mechanics behind the narrative:

• Marshall (A♡) - runs out of the back door used by Shotgun, and across to the far corner of the house opposite to see if he can get a clear line of sight
• Clay (K♡) - uses both actions to pick up the strong box and place it back in the wagon
• Shotgun (Q♡) - moves to the back corner of the terrace and fires at Clay (partial cover/short range), but only grazes him - horse spook test has no effect - Clay just passes his lily liver test
• Jebb (J♡) walks the horses forward 6"
• the Deputy (J♧) - moves to the door and fires at Clay in the open, hits him in the arm - Clay passes his lily liver test - no horse spook test required too far away

Move 6:

Characters/order of activation: Jebb (Q♤), the Deputy (J♢), Clay (10♢), Shotgun (8♢), Marshall (4♤) - Weaver (red pin) is dead

Jebb continues to walk the horses forward he even begins to think they may get away with it!

The Deputy fires twice more at Clay, who turns and raises his gun, fires off a quick shot..  and the Deputy drops to the ground as the world goes black on him...

Clay snatches a quick look to make sure he's down for good, and runs to the nearest cover.. some scrub just behind him..

"Unless we do something that strongbox is lost!" the Marshall shouts to Shotgun.. Shotgun runs down the stairs and across the open ground and finally gets a bead on Jebb - it's long range though - not ideal for a shotgun and he misses. The Marshall does the same, also fires and also misses.. 

"Damn!!"

Mechanics behind the narrative:

• Jebb (Q♤) walks the horses forward 6" - they are at the table edge
• the Deputy (J♢) - fires twice more at Clay in the open, who tries to get the draw on him - neither get +1 for shooting skills as the shooting is not aimed or long range so straight dice roll  - Clay wins hits him and inflicts a serious wound knocking the deputy unconscious - no horse spook test required too far away
• Clay (10♢) - uses his remaining action from 'getting the draw' to move to the nearest cover
• Shotgun (8♢) - runs down the stairs and across the open ground and fires at Jebb - long range (-1) and misses - no horse spook test required too far away
• Marshall (4♤) - runs across the open ground to get clear line of sight and fires at Jebb - and also misses!

Move 7:

Characters/order of activation: Marshall (J♤), the Deputy (Q♧), Clay (10♡), Jebb (7♡), Shotgun (8♢) - Weaver (red pin) is dead

The Marshall fires twice more at Jebb, this time hitting him in the leg but it also spooks the horses who jerk forward violently causing the strong box to again fall from the back of the wagon!

By the cantina the Deputy, recovers consciousness and climbs groggily to his feet, checking himself over for wounds..

Clay ducks down and moves quickly behind the scrub to the back of the wagon - "it ain't over yet!" he mutters, as he also sees Jebb move to the strongbox..

With no line of sight to the bad guys because the Marshall is in the way, Shotgun reloads and moves closer to the wagon making sure to get some cover as he does it..

Mechanics behind the narrative:

• Marshall (J♤) - fires twice at Jebb - grazes him and also hits him in the leg - the horses spook but also so abruptly they cause the strong box to fall off the back of the wagon again! (I kid you not - 1 on a D6 twice in succession, for the second time in the game!)
• the Deputy (Q♧) - recovers consciousness (successful die roll)
• Clay (10♡) - moves twice to the back of the wagon
• Jebb (7♡) - recovers from being lily livered and then moves to the strongbox
• Shotgun (8♢) - reloads and moves to the side as the Marshall is blocking line of sight

Move 8 (Last Move):

At the wagon the lead again begins to fill the air, as Clay fires desperately at the Marshall, but misses with both shots..  

"DAMNITT!!"

Shotgun meanwhile gives Jebb both barrels but can see he's only grazed him, though Jebb is looking far from happy..

He's only going to get unhappier though as the Marshall also sends a couple of shots in his direction, one of which wounds him badly and knocks him out cold. As he slumps to the floor, the wagon jumps forward, the horses spooked again.

Clay can see the game is up, and what's more he can hear the sound of approaching horses and doesn't fancy waiting to see if they are friend or foe.. he runs to the nearest cover, and shortly after the Marshall hears the sound of a fast moving horse..

Mechanics behind the narrative:

• Whatever happened on this move unless the bad guys got the strongbox off the table by the end of it, they would lose..
• Clay (K♤) - fires twice at the Marshall, but misses both times - the horse spook tests have no effect
• Shotgun (10♤) - fires off both barrels at Jebb - hitting him twice but only grazes..  Jebb fails his lily liver test
• Marshall (9♢) - also fires twice at Jebb - hitting him twice - one of which is a sever would that knocks him unconscious - the horses spook  - and move forward enough to exit the table
• the Deputy (6♤) - moves to the centre of the yard to clear his sights and fires once at long range at Clay but misses
• Jebb (4♧) - fails to recover consciousness..

Afterword:

As the Marshall stands up from tying up the now conscious Jebb, a fast moving column of cavalry come into view, under the command of a young Lieutenant..  

His horse sliding to a halt amidst the dust of the column, the Lieutenant, gun drawn, looks down at the Marshall .. "mind telling me what your up to, Mister"

The Marshall explains that he's on government business, and is able to prove his and his Deputy's identity, and having done so the Lieutenant visibly relaxes, as does the rest of the column. 

Over a glass of rough wine in the Cantina the Marshall describes the attempted robbery, and the the Lieutenant explains that they were just out on one of their regular patrols and happened to hear the shooting so came to investigate.

"I can give you an escort as far as Cedar Gulch if that's any use to you?"

The Marshall gladly agrees, and he the Deputy and Shotgun return to the wagon to get her ready to depart..

"Hang on a moment Lootenent, just one small job to do first" says Shotgun.

As the Marshall and the Deputy look at each other quizzically, Shotgun climbs down, goes to the back of the wagon and then ties down the strongbox firmly..

"You can't be too careful" he says, as he climbs back on to the wagon and flicks the reins to get the horses moving..

Post Match Analysis:

• Clay and the boys were SO close! I thought it was all over for them by turn 3 and then Jebb pulled it out of the hat and gave us the close result we got.. 

• Yes I know the good guys could have shot the horses - but that wasn't going to happen - this is Hollywood for goodness sakes, and they were the good guys! 😁

• A first for me - this entire scenario was generated from ChatGPT - all I asked for was "a simple Western skirmish scenario with two to three characters a side for the Ruthless ruleset" and it came up with this..  I don't think 'Ruthless' is well enough known for the AI to come up with the specific characterisations but it did have a go (from what I can tell I think AI was using 'Red, Dead, Redemption' instead) and the characterisations were mostly generic enough I could retrofit them to 'Ruthless'. Those that weren't generic enough I tweaked - in fact one of them, 'Commanding Presence', was so good that I may add it to 'Ruthless' permanently.

• Butchers bill:

NB. This is missing the 'severe wound' Jebb picked up on the last move/turn.. oh, and he's a prisoner so in reality the Outlaws lost two...

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On my way to the pub the other day I had reason to pass one of the multitude of open green spaces in Portsmouth and happened to notice it was called "Ravelin Park" - aha, thought I - that'll be something to do with the Old Portsmouth fortifications that I bored you with last winter...

Time for some maps... we love a map...

Note the Park and the associated House and their proximity to Landport Terrace..  which allows us to locate the specific Ravelin the park is named for on the 1860 map as Landport Street and Terrace are indicated...

..so it was named after the "East Ravelin". The ravelin is long gone, but the clues remain - fascinating, eh, and another word added to the English/fortspeak dictionary.. 

Further reading:

• Ravelin - Wikipedia

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 "Mr Bailey retired with Poll [Paul] Sweedlepipe as soon as possible; but some little time elapsed before he could remove his friend from the ground, owing to the impression wrought upon the barber's nerves by Mrs Prig, whom he pronounced, in admiration of her beard, to be a woman of transcendent charms." (from "Martin Chuzzlewit" by "Charles Dickens")

...now tell me Dickens didn't like a good chuckle...  😄

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

"Firing into the Brown" #94 - Christmas Dickens, “The Noon Stagecoach Wagon Job” setup, 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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That time of the year again, and my regular reader will know that as Christmas approaches it is my want to read a Charles Dickens, so it's Dickens time again! 

Here's the 'Christmas Dickens' timeline to date...

• 2013 - "David Copperfield" (9/10)
• 2014 - "Nicholas Nickleby" (exceptional)
• 2015 - "Oliver Twist" (8/10)
• 2016 - "The Old Curiosity Shop" (7/10)
• 2017 - "A Tale of Two Cities" (7/10) and "A Christmas Carol" (9/10)
• 2018 - "Great Expectations" (10/10)
• 2019 - "Bleak House" (8/10)
• 2020 - "Little Dorrit" (retired hurt - no score 😏)
• 2021 - "Our Mutual Friend" (8/10)
• 2022 - "Pickwick Papers" - brilliant... (9/10)
• 2023 - "Dombey and Son" - hugely enjoyable.. (9/10)
• 2024 - "Barnaby Rudge" - very good.. (8.5/10)

My top four Dickens novels so far would be "David Copperfield", "Nicholas Nickleby", "Great Expectations" and 2022's absolute joy, "Pickwick Papers" - "worst" (it's Dickens for goodness sake, how can there be a worse?), so 'least enjoyed', was without a doubt "Little Dorrit" which was mawkish beyond extreme, but of which my opinion seems to be at odds with most other people - I may have to have another go at some point, as Dickens 'only' wrote 16 major novels (there were a few books of short stories etc), and I've now read 11 (and a bit) of them...

This years Dickens, however, will be "Martin Chuzzlewit"

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“The Noon Wagon Job”

The peaceful (😏) town of Cedar Gulch is just one stop on a stage coach route that wends it's way almost 200 hundred miles from Nogales on the Mexican border at Sonora in the south, to Phoenix in the north. 

Usually a stagecoach journey of three to four days depending on conditions en route, it's also used by other goods traffic of course, both private and 'government', wheeled or otherwise - if you've got the money or the authorisation, it's possible for non-stagecoach traffic to also enjoy the benefits of horse changes at the regular staging stops along the way.

So it was that one hot and dusty Tuesday saw a wagon with four tired looking horses halted outside the livery, office, cantina, come general store in the flyblown frontier staging post of Cactus Wells (plenty of the former, the latter, singular, now largely dried up 😁) located just twenty miles south of Cedar Gulch.

Closer observation reveals that the wagon is carrying a strong box in the wagon bed, with "government" seals on it, and that it's guarded by a US Marshall and his deputy.

The wagon has stopped in order to allow the men to eat, change horses, but more importantly make some running repairs..  the driver, Jim Mullin (known by everyone as 'Shotgun'), had spotted some pulled threads in the reins and had taken them off to repair while getting his food. Having eaten and completed the repair, the three are just leaving the cantina to return to the wagon to change the horses, reattach the reins and then resume their journey, when they are rudely interrupted...

Dramatis Personae:

Objective(s): 

• The outlaws need to steal the strongbox from the wagon and escape with it off the table (doesn't matter how many of them get off the table providing the strongbox does).
• The good guys need to stop them from doing that for 8 turns, or stop all the outlaws (dead or alive). We can assume that reinforcements will arrive on turn 9 and the outlaws will automatically disengage
• If both sides fail their goals, the fight ends in a draw

Scenario specific rules:

• The wagon cannot be steered as the reins have been removed for the repair.. the horses could be lead if required.

• The strongbox:
• It takes two actions to pick up the strongbox from the wagon
• Anyone carrying the strongbox must move towards the table edge and do nothing else
• If anyone carrying the strongbox is knocked unconscious or killed the strongbox drops where they fall.
• Anyone carrying the strongbox moves at half speed and cannot run.

• The Wagon Horse Spook - whenever someone fires within 3" of the horses, roll a die:
• 1 :  Horses panic: the coach jerks forward 2", possibly spilling the strongbox or knocking a figure down.
• 2–6 : No effect.

• The Outlaws start the game 8–12" from the wagon, the good guys start between the wagon and the cantina.

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

"Firing into the Brown" #93 - Foot Guards, Bastion No. 1 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..  apologies for the intermission dear reader - too busy elsewhere, and not enough to blog on...

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Look at those battle honours.. including all the big
four in the War of the Spanish Succession..

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 British infantry regiment "1st Foot Guards" - the creme de la creme of the British infantry..

They were first raised in 1656 in Bruges as a bodyguard for Charles II whilst in exile. Initially under the command of the Earl of Rochester, on his death (1658) the command then passed to the regiments original founder, who was Thomas, Lord Wentworth 

Initially known as the 'Royal Regiment of Guards' it comprised 400 of the King's most loyal supporters - they were all officers in the earlier Royalist army of Charles I and who had gone into exile at the end of the war.

Following the Restoration (and in the interim, service at the Battle of the Dunes - where they were badly handled), they returned to England in 1660. In 1665 they were amalgamated with 'John Russell's Regiment of Guards' to form the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards - they remain the most senior regiment of the British Army to this day.

There is no point in repeating the excellent Kronoskaf regimental history of their service in the War of the Spanish Succession (see link below), but my reader will know that I am endlessly fascinated by the characters and personalities, so by way of providing some rabbit holes to disappear down, the Colonel-commanders during the War of the Spanish Succession were:

• from 16 March 1689: Henry Sidney, Earl of Romney - described by Jonathan Swift (he of Gulliver's Travels fame) as 'an idle, drunken, ignorant rake, without sense or honour' - but given Sidney's politics, and that Swift was notably anti-Whig, other views may definitely differ! 😁 He died of smallpox at his house in London on 8 April 1704..
  
  

  

  Painting attributed to John Baptist Medina

  
  
• from 24 April 1704: John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough - arguably (not arguably in my eyes) Britain's greatest general...  he lost the Colonelcy after his fall from grace with (Queen) Anne - "I am sorry for your own sake the reasons have become so public which makes it necessary for me to let you know you have rendered it impracticable for you to continue yet longer in my service".
  
  

  

  Painting attributed to Michael Dahl

  
  
• from 1 January 1712: James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormond - boo hiss 😏- a noted Tory, and the tool the British government tasked with getting the British army out of the war - the British government gave him secret orders to take no active part in supporting their allies under Prince Eugene. Happily - he was also a Jacobite as well as a Tory, and when George I (who was neither Jacobite or Tory!) came to power a mere two years later, he was stripped of  his posts as Captain-General, and as colonel of the regiment - both of which positions were given back to Marlborough.. yay!😁
  
  

  

  "A fine soldier, as a statesman ‘he often followed the advice of those who had a smaller share of sense than himself (and)... was as irresolute and timorous in affairs as he was brave in person’" Painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller (Lübeck 1646 - London 1723)

Important men one and all, but the regiments battle field commander would have been the Lieutenant Colonel, and from what I can tell - this would have been these men throughout the period of interest:

• Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Withers - he was Lieutenant-Colonel when the regiment was first sent to Flanders in 1701  - just the one battalion, of the four (!) the regiment comprised at that time. Withers was made Brigadier-General in March 1702, and Major General in 1704 shortly after Marlborough was made Colonel of the regiment. He eventually died at a good old age.. his grave stone says..
  
  "Henry Withers Lieutenant General descended from a military stock and bred in arms in Britain, Dunkirk and Tangier; thro' the whole course of the two last wars of England with France. He served in Ireland, in the Low Countries and in Germany, was present at every battle and at every siege and distinguished in all by an activity, a valour and zeal which nature gave and honour improved. A love of glory and his country animated and raised him above that spirit which the trade of war inspires; a desire of acquiring riches and honouse by the miseries of manking. His temper was humane, his benevolence universal, and among all those ancient virtues, which he preserved in practice, and in credit, none was more remarkable than his hospitality. He dyed at the age of LXXVIII years, on the XI of November MDCCXXIX. To whom his monument is erected by his companion in the wars, and his friend thro. life, Henry Desney".
  
  Not a bad epitaph at all.. 😊
• At the Schellenberg, Kronoskaf shows them under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Primrose (perhaps Captain? Maybe promoted as a result of his efforts?), who was wounded in the assault while leading the grenadier company, which had been detached to make up a composite force of grenadiers from multiple regiments. He recovered from his wounds, made Colonel, and was later given command of the 24th Foot - he ended up a Major General
• Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Dorner assumed temporary command but was subsequently killed at Blenheim where the regiment was part of Fergusson's Brigade (that attacked the village of Blenheim).
• Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Gorsuch then assumed command - he died in December 1708 at the Siege of Ghent after commanding them for five campaigns. When reinforcements for the Guards in the form of an extra Battalion was sent, Marlborough specifically asked that they not be sent with any officer senior to Gorsuch, so that Gorsuch would remain in overall command, he was that well regarded.
• Lieutenant Colonel Cholmondeley is mentioned as being in command in 1711, but in the interim the most active battlefield command seems to have been by Withers (above)..

These are Minifig's and painted and based by me some time pre-2006 from the batch of unpainted figures that DG passed me when he decided not to proceed with the project. Probably one of the first regiments I painted..  flag is from the old Warflag site

Further reading:

• The First Regiment of Foot Guards
• 1st Foot Guards - Project WSS (Kronoskaf)
• The Origin and History of the 1st Foot Guards (four volumes!)

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Time to get my Dora the Explorer hat on - I was reading some stuff [clicky] on the Interweb the other day and mention of this one caught my eye..

Bastion No.1 from an 1890 WD Plan

Bastion No. 1 is in Gosport (just the other side of the harbour from Portsmouth), and over the years I must have crossed that moat via the modern footbridge any number of times without seeing the greater significance..  I sense a little winter project coming on - the Gosport Lines! 😏

Other reading sources:

Trinity Bastion - Gosports History

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

"Firing into the Brown" #92 - bot madness relief, the Immortal Memory 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..  just a short one this week...  busy elsewhere...

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The Bots have buggered off and my page view counts are back to normal - how will I survive the lack of attention? 😏

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Portrait of Nelson by L. F. Abbott (1799)

To the immortal memory.. 🍻

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 ...and while we're on the subject of anniversaries...  it was the anniversary of the Battle of Edgehill this week as well (Thursday), and we all know where that ended up [clicky]

..those little men are long over due a re-visit to the table top!

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

"One Hour Wargames" - Scenario 28 - "Botched Relief" - Game

Time for another update.. and time for the little metal men to march again...  

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So as per the last update a Confederate force of four units is attacking a Union held town. 

The Union force comprises six units, but they are commanded by a bit of a McLellan who is loath to commit his entire force, so only three of them are ever active at one time, two of them are positioned close to, or in, the town which is the objective for the game. 

The other active Union unit, and the rest of the inactive Union force are positioned on a hill to the south west of the town - the kicker being that, only one Union unit from the group on the hill can be active at any time - the moment the active unit is removed from play for any reason, only then can the next one can come in to action..

This gives a surprising number of tactical conundrums for both sides - I will be using my variant of the One Hour Wargame rules (but in which the key elements of the books rules are still present) - 

• Interestingly this is the first period where Thomas doesn't allow Hand to Hand combat. His view - probably rightly - was that it was so rare as to not need representing, since in most cases the two lines of infantry just closed to musket range and blasted away at each other until the other side ran away. I modified this in my rules to allow it (how can we not have the "Rebel Yell"?? 😁), but only when one side has a significant advantage over the other.
• Thomas also penalises units shooting at units in a town - half casualties. I adopted this as well - but for a scenario where the objective is to capture the town, you know the attackers are going to have a hard time!

So here we are - start of game... as Union player I chose to put my two strongest (in terms of firepower) units in the town - the Zouaves and the artillery. The other active Union unit is the one to the fore on the hill top left..

The Confederates started with their artillery deployed, but other than a decision whether to put their zouaves centre or right flank, the only other decision was to leave one of the two 'bread and butter' infantry units to cover the left flank and that damned hill.

...and so we start with the two artillery pieces exchanging counter battery fire - but with the Confederate artillery doing considerably less damage because of the cover. The Confederate infantry advances on the town with the left flank regiment (the 33rd Virginian) moving to cover the advancing Union infantry (14th Indiana) from the hill.

The 33rd continues to pour fire in on the 14th Indiana, but clearly with three more units ready to take their place there is a sense that these are just pinpricks - and, regrettably, they are blocking line of sight for their own artillery.

As the Confederate infantry nears the town, the Union artillery switches targets to the now much closer Louisiana Tigers - the Confederate artillery continues to fire, but is doing little damage because of the cover bonuses. They are within musket range and the two sides start to exchange fire..

On the flank the 'Mexican stand off' continues..

In the town the artillery is loading grape and tearing great swathes out of the Tigers - they're almost done - high water mark of the Confederacy? Worse still, in order to close the gap, they have now blocked line of sight for their artillery who now have no targets..

With the Union infantry and artillery in the town continuing to tear chunks out of the Confederate attackers, and a battle of attrition on the left flank they couldn't hope to win, the Confederate commanders orders the withdrawal..

End of game.. Union victory

Post match analysis:

• First the butchers bill...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ...clearly a bloodbath for the Confederates though the 33rd were holding their end - well until the next regiment turned up!


• Well - not sure what else I could have done differently to be honest - you can manoeuvre so as to attack a different edge of the town - or even split your forces so as to attack two sides and split the Union, but they'll still be effectively dealing double casualties and units in towns have a 360' arc of fire anyway - there are no flanks


• In the Thomas rules, you either move or fire, so to advance on the town requires you to give up the right to fire in order to advance - an additional penalty when one side already holds the objective of the game


• I am not sure that the artillery should have been allowed in the town but I played it that it could - specifically the rules say that in this period only infantry and skirmishers can end their turn in a town - but the scenario states that units can set up anywhere within 12" of the baseline so the artillery actually start the game there - they never moved...

Bottom line - this is a very difficult scenario for the attacker to win given their paucity of numbers, even with McLellan in charge of the defenders!

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