"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...

"Firing into the Brown" #91 - bot madness, dust, "Botched Relief" 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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It's no secret that the bloggerati are seeing some wondrous traffic patterns across their blogs - so I thought I'd have a look at what's going on here, in my little sunny corner of the web...

...the first three of my 'top 5 posts' in 14 years of blogging were all written in the last month..  amaze-balls.. 😏

..thought this one was interesting - these are page/post views over the entire life of the blog.. 

..so those bots, in one single month, have accounted for almost 7% of all the views in 14 years of blogging...  what utter nonsense...😁

..."top of the world, ma"

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Oh yes...👏

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Time for another game - and I thought it would be nice to the get the American Civil War guys out. It was either them or the English Civil War guys, but they haven't marched in an age, so Gerard's will have to wait a while - next time, I promise... 😀

The next in my oh so enjoyable ramble through Neil Thomas's "One-Hour Wargames" is #28, "Botched Relief", an interesting sounding scenario if ever there was one.

In summary - a Blue force (got to be the Confederate) 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 two of them garrison the town and the other forces are positioned some way away and only released piecemeal.

I'm giving both sides one Zouave regiment and one artillery piece, the rest will be standard strength infantry regiments..

So - orders of battle will be:

Table as follows:

Two Union units occupy the town, four units occupy the hill/ridge (one of which is noted in advance as "first responder"), the Rebel force attacks along the road from the bottom of the picture..

Just need some time now to fight it!

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

"Firing into the Brown" #16 - spares, freebies, books, 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 apologies, other priorities are seeing my schedule slip..   summer's here and the boat's in the water - focus has shifted.. 😀

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Gettysburg refight - picture I took at Warfare in 2107 - glorious..

 

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Books first - as they are a given..

Love these Bernie Gunther books - the way that the author manages to switch backwards and forwards in the life line of the protagonist, so in this one we move on from post-War Nazi refuge Argentina which Gunther has left in some haste, to pre-Castro Cuba where he has taken up residence, and is living quietly, that is until two significant people from his past turn up..  excellent. 

What I found most fascinating (and the flashbacks to a pre-WWII Berlin under increasing Nazi domination are brilliant in themselves) was the description of Cuba under Batista..  the increasing threat of the Castro lead revolutionaries, and the sheer amount of money and the associated corruption that flowed..  

Very good..  9/10 for me..

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Bit of a change after the previous book, but it was a Kindle bargain that arrived at the right time! 

A long time ago this series of books by Arthur Ransome featuring the Swallows and the Amazons kick started a sailing hobby for me that has lasted the better part of 50 years  - I would say Ransome has been as influential on me as Featherstone! 

So in this, the fourth in the series we are introduced for the first time to Dick and Dorothea Callum who will provide an ongoing story line through the books. It is winter in the Lake District, snow and ice all over, the lake is freezing, and Dick and Dorothea have been sent to spend the holidays with their mothers old nurse. 

While there they make friends with the Walker's (the Swallows) and the Blackett's (the Amazons) and despite the lack of boats, embark on an "arctic" adventure featuring skates, sledges, storms, and feasts...  just brilliant..  straight 10/10..

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The last post where I did an "unboxing" of the spares box seemed to chime with one of my reader (I'm absolutely delighted to say) and the Minifigs 25mm ACW stuff has now moved in it's entirety to Northern Ireland - stonking news - really pleased to say that the new owner is very much looking forward to getting them on the table, and on his blog..  I'll post here when that happens..

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With thanks to contributor Jim Walkley, how about this for a walk down memory lane for the older amongst us?? 

..and from that page.. U-RV2 I do believe on my table.... that piece has traveled to Australia and back...

 

 

...and U-RV9..

...and look'ee there - a few pieces of U-WV1 or 2 - that brick wall set was the one we all wanted - being vacuum formed you could make yards and yards of wall simply by using it as a mould for plaster of paris.... 😁
 

You'd give your right arm for either that English Civil War star fort, or the Bunker Hill fortification...

Brilliant - cheers, Jim! 

 

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

"Firing into the Brown" #15 - spares, freebies, books, 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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Progress is almost complete in the loft on the gradual replacement of all the tatty, but well served, cardboard boxes I used to use for troop storage - at the time of writing only two box files remain, and replacements for those are on the way..  this weekend however I scored a cheap 'Really Useful' 9 litre box in Tesco (other supermarche's are available) and this time it was the turn of what I euphemistically call the "Spares Box"...

..the "Spares Box"

Seemed rude not to have a rootle through the contents, as the box weighs an absolute ton..

First off, assorted and partially painted Minifigs 25mm ..  look like Iron Brigade from the hats..  guessing these would have come from the collection/paintbrush of Lofty C ('Ave', John) via DG when I first contemplated the ACW project which eventually went the 20mm route..   I'll not be using them and I rather they were being used, if anyone reading wants them they are yours for the cost of postage and a donation of your choosing to any Ukraine support charity - let me know via the contact widget to the left..

..another sorted bundle with what looks like a solitary sharp shooter in the middle (Berdan's?) - same deal - if you want them contact me...

Lovely..  Minifigs Samurai archers from my old WRG army (6th Edition naturally)..these aren't going anywhere..  😀

Ahh - the rest of the Sharpshooters - Minifigs 25mm - same deal - if you want them, ping me

I wonder where on earth I picked those up?! Same deal - if you want them, or can use them, ping me..

Assortment of 'artillerists' - Union and Confederate - almost certainly Minifigs 25mm - you know the score by now, if you want them then..

The first metal figures I ever bought..  only the riders...  in Nottingham I think on a visit to see my grandparents..  Hinchliffe? Years later I could finally afford horses, so they are mounted on the definitive Minfigs fat ar*ed horse.. 😀   These are not going anywhere...

A huge long time ago, DG and I played around with Spearhead in 1:300 scale and I think these are left overs from the project - guessing they are H&R.. Spitfires and Stuka's.. a strange mix... going to keep these as one day I might like to do some WW2 Air Wargaming..

Next - officers - ACW - 25mm - Minfigs - if you want them, you know the drill..

There is one horse in the pack that isn't Minifigs, going to guess Hinchliffe, but a comparison of ar*es is in order..  see what I mean about Minifigs horses? He answers to the name of Kardashian..  😁

Huge bag of ACW cavalry in kepi's - weighs most of a ton - if it's of any use to you, let me know..

Lord only knows how old these (next) are - but they date from the time when Minifigs sold their 15mm's in strips.. I'll be keeping these for nostalgia reasons..  sad I know..  😊

No idea what this was doing in the spares box, painted by me but far too nice to be in there so I have moved it to the AWI collection..

I have no idea what where or when these entered my hands..  not even sure what they are...  Asiatic perhaps Chinese??? Same deal - if they are any good to you, then contact me..

A small job lot of partially painted Samurai...  again I have no idea where these came from, or make..  the horses loo like grey hounds...  if you want them, you know the deal...

 

..and after all that - this was left..  😁A glorious mish mash of all sorts...

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