Tag: Neil Thomas

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wargaming

Part 4: Fauxterre 1930 “A” division retreats

Sunrise

Narrative

The Corinovans are in retreat, “B” division has been destroyed holding the coastal city of Viana and now inland, “A” division is dangerously exposed to isolation by the rampant Gombardian forces.

Remnants of “B” division and elements of “C” division in retreat, continued to try and intercept Gombardian thrusts on “A” division’s eastern flank.

My previous Fauxterre post covered the strategic situation that lead to this action.

The game

Essentially this is an escalating engagement and I simply used the scenario from Neil Thomas’ “An introduction to wargaming”. His World War Two rules reflect his simple yet interesting approach you can find in his more popular books like one hour wargames, C19th Century European warfare or ancient and medieval warfare.

The rulebook offers four scenarios

Encounter

Frontal assault

Surprise assault

Escalating engagement

I opted for an escalating engagement action reflecting the chaos of a rapid advance experienced by both sides.

I took the real world unit lists in the book and came up with two slightly different lists for the Gombardians – plenty of armour like Germans while the Corinovans were more likely to field infantry like the French.

I used my own table for observation – everything had an observation rule to help cause friction that’s required for a solo game.

The scenario set victory conditions based on three shared objectives – the winner having two or all three at the end of the game. I had a count down variable tracker but this had not expired when one side patently had run out of forces.

The three objectives were the

Town

Sawmill

Orchard

Both sides quickly acquired either the sawmill or town.

It remained simply to fight it out for the orchard.

As the table was created first before selecting the scenario it was also the case that the opposing forces diced for arrival points.

Each side had 9 units and deployed 3 units to start but I also applied scenario requirements that all six remaining units arrived on an improving odds dice throw each turn.

Here is some of the key action.

The base cloth can use its grid but today I am using Neil Thomas rules with measured distances
Gombardians enter the town
The walled orchard – soon to be the centre of attention
In the distance an old sawmill nestles beneath the hill
The gombardians venture cautiously through the town
The Gombardians enter the orchard
Unknown to them the Corinovans had entered the orchard at the same time in some strength, fighting erupts
The gombardians already had one of the three objectives- the town
More gombardians pass through the town while the Corinovans have already taken the third objective – the old sawmill. Both sides have to secure the orchard to meet their orders

The action now centres on the walled orchard

The gombardians are beginning to wear down the Corinovans in the orchard
The Corinovans launch an attack past the orchard
More gombardians arriving through the town
A defiant single soldier from the first gombardian assault hangs on frustrating the Corinovans
The newly arrived gombardians decimate the Corinovans attacking past the orchard
The Corinovans benefit from some excellent barrage though, in turn decimating the gombardians

The battle moves toward a conclusion

The gombardians are now driven back to the town area
A few Corinovans hold the orchard and so have secured the “two objectives” orders. The gombardians have failed and decide to withdraw leaving the town in the possession of the Corinovans.

The Gombardians had arrived with armour which fits the scenario of a fluid front in the campaign situation. But they did not have enough infantry to take on the Corinovans in the congested orchard area.

The army lists therefore helped create an asymmetric game and the armour heavy force on this occasion lost.

Categories
Military History norman conquest

Anyone for tapestry?

September is a busy month for battle anniversaries in Yorkshire not least in 1066.

On the 20th the Vikings of King Harald defeated the Saxons of Earls Edwin and Morcar at Germany Beck in what is now Fulford. There are not many references to this battle – given that two climatic battles followed, its understandable.

The battle was according to records fought near where the beck joins a sharp turn in the river Ouse.

Crucially the defeated Saxons made good their escape as a rising tide flooded the beck. This meant they could fight another day.

There is a tapestry of the Fulford battle displayed at various locations over the years since it was made in 2012 after ten years effort!

On the 25th September the Saxons under King Harold of England defeated Harald and the Viking host at Stamford Bridge.

It was the end of the Scandinavian Viking threat after hundreds of years of invasion.

A tapestry of the Stamford Bridge battle can be seen in the old railway station at Stamford Bridge.

It was another Viking Scion – the Norsemen who took land in the Carolingian Empire and called it Normandy – who a few generations later then defeated the English in turn at Hastings.

It can be argued that without Fulford and Stamford Bridge there would have been no Hastings and maybe a different war between Harold and William might have played out.

So maybe instead of waiting for yet another Norman invasion (the bayeaux tapestry is en route to the UK) you could visit these other tapestries when they are on show instead or as well as.

People remember William for what followed yet Harold had marched 500 miles with his household troops and won a great victory putting together two separate regional armies before arriving at Hastings: William fought an outstanding adversary.

Back in 2020 I put together some shield wall armies and had some fun trying out various rules.

https://thewargamingerratic.home.blog/2020/09/06/prelude-to-wargames-rules-tested/

Categories
wargaming

One Hour Wargames and 2 more Sneedens

The thing about one hour wargames is it’s genuinely “pick up” attraction. If you want to throw dice, move figures and get that war game with a purpose feeling for minimal preparation, then I find it’s a winner.

Yes, the mechanisms are abstract but you have to compromise somewhere and Neil Thomas rules generally offer that blend of compromises I like.

These battles were prompted by my reading atlas of the civil war and discovering Robert Sneeden – a Union Cartographer. https://thewargamingerratic.home.blog/2025/06/05/a-game-wow/

In the first game the Royalists held the hill with some rookie blues and grays in action
The royalists divide their forces to hold both enemy objectives
The royalists include this new blue unit
Royalist artillery hold the town road
The royalists are none other than Danes
Danish volunteer horse make up the royalist cavalry
More Dane’s this time by Hat
Strelets Danish Royalist Guards
Everything hung on the defence of the town

Rebel forces enter the fray

A mixed brigade of cavalry
The rebels mass their infantry before the town
The royalists are caught out
The rebels quickly assault the town
The royalists seek to outflank the rebel attack
The rebel cavalry attack the rookie blues royalists

Rebel victory

The rebel attack on the town is overwhelming
The rebel cavalry destroy the royalist right wing infantry
The rebel cavalry move on the second objective – the hill
The royalist defence stiffens around the town
The rebel cavalry are destroyed
Rebel infantry struggle in the town
The royalist cavalry rush to aid their compatriots in the town but it is too late

So the second battle ends in Royalist defeat. It’s all square and all to play for…..

The royalists needed to escape through the town and up the great road……

Rebels held the river line woods
The rebel cavalry brigade – lucky toys and hat miniatures
Irregular miniatures garibaldeans
More irregular miniatures garibaldeans
Strelets rebel sharpshooters hold the town road
The royalists pour forwards
The royalists choose the remote river crossings on their left wing to make progress
The royalists are peppered by the rebel skirmishers
The royalists attack the town
The royalist left wing cavalry lead the way
The rebels abandon the river line
The royalists begin to make progress
The rebel cavalry are swept away
The rebels are fleeing pell mell
Some royalists race up the great road
The royalist cavalry take a beating getting to close to formed infantry
The royalist cavalry break
The last few royalist units must make good their escape up the great road
Again the rebel infantry shoot well
The last royalist infantry are driven away

And so victory to the rebels in the action and also the short campaign.

Today of course saw the end of 3 days of fighting at Gettysburg – the great Union victory which along with the capture of Vicksburg saw the war finally turn against the Confederate Southern States.

Categories
Scenery wargame rules wargaming

Off Season? or what?

The Football season properly got underway this weekend (although the hard workers were already on their second weekend) after the summer break and it kind of gels with my view of the wargaming calendar year.

My off season is spring and summer. Well yes I know there are lots of wargamers who are of the 24/7 variety and make up the engine room of this fine hobby.

I am much more the peripheral player – wargaming fits in with lots of other activities. In summer I like to get out in the daylight and enjoy the warm rays of sunshine – not too warm though!

So it occurred to me the other day that it was odd that I might post a plan for the year at the turn of the year. Yes thats when many other things get planned and reflected upon – makes sense to do the wargame planning stuff at the same time in those dark months.

The reality is that my transfer season (= all those painting plans or rules/gaming period changes) and this disruption really happens between May and August. And thats because as my painting tails of in Spring my mind starts wandering.

Looking back I have noticed Summer has been quite fruitful for projects going awry and new ideas popping up.

I mentioned earlier those 24/7 wargamers. Well even if I dont paint much in Spring and Summer I do tend to read and that is the devil in my wargaming. Or rather it is the seed point for another idea or ideas.

What has seeded this summer?

Back in early spring I was on a roll (no pun intended!) painting, well inspired by the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge XIV.

Trojan horse…..

My main project – Schleswig Holstein Wars were well served yet also some new material like a kit airplane – first in decades, retro citadel fantasy figures, gameshow freebies and even a magazine WW2 freebie figure Sci Fi carve up.

And then the finale posting by Karl at AHPCXIV featured a trojan horse. How apt, as it drove the Bronze Age front and square into my wargames thinking.

Soon I had the books out, which rules, which figures to paint, heck which scale? I am the sad possessor of 15mm and 1/72 chariot armies none of which are complete – in the case of 15mm not even started……

Scale – not a chariot in sight….
25mm subs for those non existent 15mm chariots – in dba cavalry or chariots it matters not!
High water mark of this summers Bronze Age push!

In the end I managed a strip or two of Assyrians undercoated and then opted for my version of 2mm armies. A successful campaign with DBA using a previous mapped world followed and then nothing.

Back to reading again. Suddenly William the chivalrous knight sprung upon me – I got all medieval and then it passed: And so did the book.

A great period for heraldic colour

The same happened to my wild west thoughts.

The cowboys got as far as the rockery before getting shot to pieces…..

The season of scenery challenge popped up. and I briefly made progress on a long overdue Italian hilltop town.

And then the Pike and Shot 16th century erupted with books on history, rules and uniforms spilling out of cupboards. A whole set of stockpiled figures got cleaned, reading progressed and rules were contemplated. Taking a lead from my Bronze Age moment I created some 0mm, yes 0mm armies for the Italian Wars – France versus Spain. I had intended them for testing rules including Pike and Shot by Warlord but bailed out using Neil Thomas Wargaming an Introduction instead – Pike and Shot Rules. These are easy and simple to use.

A promising start with 0mm scale armies to test a myriad of pike and shot era wargames rules including warlords pike and shot soon petered out….

One wargame later and dust started to gather on the abandoned field – no second game.

The pike and shot did get washed and desprued but alas that was it…..

So you see spring and summer has been properly, my fragmented wargames season. Its not an “off season” or indeed a “low season” but its definitely a season of sorts.

And its still going on………….pretty much what you would expect from a wargaming erratic I guess.

Categories
Mid 19th Century Wargaming wargame rules wargaming

Third Battle of Oeversee 1864

In the third battle of Oeversee – a Neil Thomas scenario, the same forces were deployed but slightly differently. Would these minor changes have an impact? The Danes were only very slightly forward and the Austrians attacked in multiple columns.

9th Hussars taking hits while the Artillery has an immediate impact on the Bell shako regiment
The 9th Hussars are dispersed by the blue kepi regiment while the artillery continue to dismay the Bell Shako regiment
The Elite Jaeger charged home suffer terrible losses
in the melee they lost more men and broke
The Danish Artillery deployed on the road with Regular Austrian Battalions green and red/orange taking hits
Three battalions charge home – the Austrians adopted charge home tactics after 1859 war with France.
The kepi Regiment are driven back
The Artillery are overrun – things are collapsing for the Danish
Only the rump of the Bell Shako Regiment survives
The Red Shako Regiment are able to dispatch the red infantry battalion before Austrian the artillery shatter them.
The Austrian battalions pursue the Blue Kepi Regiment destroying them
Now just the rear Danish line remains – sky blue kepi regiment and the dark blue kepi regiment
Alas the Elite Skirmishers have again worked their way round to take take these forces in the rear.
The Austrians charge home and sweep away the sky blue kepi regiment
Next the Orange Battalion takes on the Dark Blue Kepi Regiment
They are soon dispatched
Game over within the time limit – the Austrians have met the objective and no Danes are left on the road. Soon the Imperial Forces will resume their march towards Jutland.

This was a quicker game and the Austrians were not delayed so much as in the previous two games. Crucially the Austrians attacked in force early.

The First battle of Oeversee 1864

https://wordpress.com/post/thewargamingerratic.home.blog/6201

The Second battle of Oeversee 1864

https://wordpress.com/post/thewargamingerratic.home.blog/6232

I do think the three games show there is some subtlety in Neil Thomas’ rules and they repay attention to his design thinking which is comprehensive in achieving such brevity in the mechanisms.

My only issue is that for my bases the “4 in column” for a column look wrong so I may well switch to 2×2 although for the small scenarios like this one might need tweaking.

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Mid 19th Century Wargaming wargame rules wargaming

Buildings Blast 2: Joe Morschauser – no grids

The Second battle using my “Buildings Blast” set up saw a mid 19th century action with Austrians and Piedmontese in play. It was a solo play this time.

I used the rules published by John Curry and the “history of wargaming project” with some adaption for solo play.

Using Neil Thomas grading of troops I adjusted the firing and melee rules.

I also used the Roster system unaltered. Infantry got 4 circles and a cross while Artillery got just 2 circles in this game. Essentially in the basic game a hit meant a unit (= 1 base) was destroyed. Roster rules gave units/bases lives in the form of circles and crosses on the roster which you ticked off as they were lost.

The Scenario was that the Austrians were retreating and the force here was ordered to hold the bridge in the town. The crossing was one of only a few that allowed artillery and logistics easy crossing of the river. The Piedmontese advancing from the north west had orders to seize the bridge as quickly as possible.

Forces were randomly assigned using playing card allocations along with a portion of blank entries
Units deployed in contact and units were recognised as such at about 6 inches – the card only turned on a 2-6 D6. Here the right hand Piedmontese were certain nothing was in front of them – a heart was a dummy card while the left hand unit was not so sure so hesitated (on a d1) with no card turn.
The right hand units poured forward towards the “old millhouse” spotting some real Austrian defenders
The lefthand Piedmontese units were suddenly exposed to Austrian infantry fire from a slightly sunken road
on the east side of the main road two piedmontese artillery batteries dropped into action again to be surprised by enemy troops in a slightly sunken and walled road. These were riflemen and on good form – one battery was quickly silenced
However infantry units (white coated British Legion 1860) quickly drove them away
fierce fire was exchanged between the Bersaglieri and Austrians in the sunken road while Garibaldeans stormed the defended houses at the entrance to the town
On the east side 1859 Piedmontese infantry stormed the defended houses
Elsewhere Piedmontese forces had pushed on meeting little resistance (= dummy cards) to their front. A lone Austrian Artillery battery on the west side of town faces artillery and some more Bersaglieri
Stubborn resistance at the Old Millhouse
Finally the sunken road defenders are driven off
And the west side Austrian defenders give up rather too quickly
exchange of fire results in another Austrian loss
Even as west side Austrian defenders gather but………
The Piedmontese quickly move towards their target – the river crossing. Another Artillery Battery blocks their way
On the west side the Austrian defenders put up a good defence and with support nearby………
The defended houses at the north end of town finally are overrun
The mill house and its defenders are abandoned by the Austrians who can retreat
Austrian artillerists put up a stern defence
Crunch time at the town square as the Austrians are hemmed in
The Bersaglieri try to rush the Artillery
The Town centre defence collapses
The Bersaglieri inexplicably turned tail on the west side while Lancers arrive to their rear. The British Legion finish off the town centre defenders on the left picture
The Artillery of Piedmont watch as the last Austrian defenders in the town square are defeated
The defended westside town square buildings are assaulted
in a last desparate throw Austrian Hussars ride up the main street to halt the Piedmontese tide.
The Hussars beat off the Lancers but to their rear the Artillerists are finally beaten while the East side is alive with Piedmontese. Everywhere Austrian defenders have melted away into the fields or across the bridge.
The Hussars beat a retreat across the bridge bringing to an end the defence of the bridge
Piedmontese Lancers cautiously follow.

The defended buildings were randomly determined and contained one unit each – no other benefits were given the building defenders. So they simply were a delaying factor assisting the mobile defenders fighting outside.

The scenario I played used a 25 step countdown and 1xd6 reduction per turn. The Austrians had to retire at countdown 16 from the edge of town, 7 – the town square and at 0 abandon the north river bank. Victory to Piedmont required they took the bridge before the countdown reached 0.

The game turns 1 to 3 were spent on the edge of town, then turns 4, 5 and 6 fighting over the town square. Turn 7 forced the Austrians back to the north bank but here ended the action as the Austrians actually ran out of defenders.

So the victorious Piedmontese captured the bridge intact and within the timescale set. There were no Austrian Engineers with a lit fuse to spoil their day! Anyway the Austrians would be back soon enough they thought…. Do I hear a Radetzky March in the distance?

For a very old ruleset Joe Morschauser’s rules played easy as I guess you would expect. With the tweaks to aid solo play they actually played very well.

I had bought the rule book for the Grid rules both the originals and Bob Cordery’s modernised version – Bob co edited the book with John Curry.

So this was a pleasant surprise to find a very playable set of “measurement based” rules into the bargain.

Categories
Mid 19th Century Wargaming wargame rules wargaming

Grids in progress

I have slowly started to look at some grid gaming set ups. My starting point has been that they would aid campaigns and to that end allow quicker solo games. I opted for two 3’x2′ boards which could then give me a 4’x3′ table which also figures in Neil Thomas rulesets.

ideas still in play – how to represent rivers and buildings? hills are simply another gridded block shape to suit.

As a bit of a test I used a Neil Thomas scenario from the C19th European Wars book (NT19e) – the Cristinos v Carlists, in my case Piedmont squared up to Austria.

I use 40mm square bases for my 19th century games and I have chosen a 50mm grid – i.e. no perfect fit of base to grid square. And for this test I used essentially formations from Neil Thomas NT19e. The exception being that my square 40×40 basing really distorts the column or line option choice.

Garibaldeans march in my attack column option – I reserve a single base wide column of 4 bases for marching only. Firing lines are 4 bases side by side and don’t advance or retreat, but can wheel.
I have Artillery men both on one large base and also individually as shown here
Abstraction – these Neapolitan Riflemen in a built up area may still simply be on a block of a different colour or with buildings/features!
I quite like Neil Thomas unit conditions – Fire and Fury and other rulesets in mid 19th century warfare also seem to opt for this type gradation
I did not find the grid a problem and it did the job of of having a tape measure on the board at all times everywhere. Also manoeuvring is hard work once you move to multi based units. NT19e allows turning (spinning)on the unit centre (abstraction again) so fits nicely with a grid approach.
The undersizing of base to grid feels right for me.
Neil Thomas rules do not feature command bases but other rules I like do – so I plan to use single grid base for lowest discrete command with next up having two grids covered and the top man having three of even four bases covered. The bigger the command base the further back from the action is better for them – having no attack or defence values if contacted.
Bare bones – right now it feels like I am heading in the right direction.
Categories
Scenery wargaming

Abstract or Impressionism?

A constant theme of my interest in art is the variety of techniques on show.

My Weekend Open Studios visits prompted me to dig out some wooden offcuts I had minded to fashion into buildings.

The idea for “woodtown” was to provide my grid gaming with appropriately sized buildings. And they would be in keeping with the abstract nature of grid boards. In terms of the art they are definitely inclined towards Paul Nash. Ferens Art Gallery can be found in Kingston Upon Hull and an interesting painting by Paul Nash can be seen there.

Paul Nash – East Coast Port
some old bits of 2×1 with 45 degree cuts to create the roofline – at various heights to emphasise the randomness of old italian hill towns. The wood grain helps deflect thoughts that these are just bits of wood.
The two clusters – the rough wood finish works on the red roof while the uneven whitewash fits the style

They make their first contribution in my recent Neil Thomas 1864 Minigame. Ironic that the game did not use grids…………

Categories
Mid 19th Century Wargaming Vienna Treaty Wars wargame rules wargaming

The Second Battle of Oeversee 1864

Having played out Neil Thomas’s minigame scenario I was left wondering if the unlikely Danish victory was just that.

In the first battle with this scenario the Austrians attacked straight up the road that was to be cleared yet they simply ran out of time.

This second battle was again run exactly as per the basic scenario suggestion by Neil Thomas.

  • same board size
  • same terrain
  • same units
  • units deployed at the start in the same way as the first battle except as below

At least the Danish Artillery put in an appearance.

The Austrian units arrived at the same point on the road but moved differently.

The Hussars charged up the road as before……..

The Hussars take a critical 4 hits from musketry and fail the required morale test – losing 2 bases at a stroke while the Austrian Artillery can’t seem to get the range right.
The Danish Artillery push up the road
The Elite Jaegar Infantry square up to the Danish Infantry (1866 style on the left and 1850 on the right!) Or Irregular Metals versus Hat Plastics – both are welcome in 20-25mm scale
The 1866 dark blue caps drew their first melee with the Elite Jaegar (forcing their retreat) so had to advance in column to regain position in their own turn, meanwhile the artillery deploy. The 1850 Sky Blue caps decide to advance having suffered little damage from the austrian artillery
Move 5 and the 1866 Dark Blue caps have been driven off while a devastating artillery barrage has all but destroyed the 1850 sky blue caps. The Danish artillery made little impression on the remaining Elite Jaegar. Things are going wrong for the Danish
With low morale to start with the Danish artillery flee
The 1848 Danish Redcoats square up to the next assault by the Austrian Infantry. The Austrian Artillery fire blanks again but the 1850 Sky blue caps can only watch the austrian infantry charge past – they cannot attack unless they have more bases than the defender whereas the Austrians in this scenario get to attack anything anytime for the loss of their firing line capability. In the bottom right the Austrian skirmishers have sneaked round through the wood.
Move 7 and the Austrians have been pummelled. Both Austrian Infantry columns have been shot away by the Danish defenders. The Austrian Artillery are still firing blanks while the Austrian Skirmishers are getting some hits on the Danish rear.
Another assault and the 1848 Red coats have gone while the last danish infantry unit is taking hits from the skirmishers on their flank
Finally the Austrian artillery are getting going – they blast away the last danish infantry alongside the skirmishers and remaining Austrain Infantry unit.
Move 10 arrives and the Austrians have achieved their objective – time for some Radetsky Marching music………

You will have to settle for the Hungarian March instead and some Hungarian Hussars.

Budapest and visiting dignatories

A close run to the end but this time the expected outcome.

The Skirmishers had more effect by circling the eastern flank of the Danish. The dice throwing favoured the Austrians at critical moments – triggering morale collapse amongst the danish. As the danes were mainly levy this was to be expected and again its was more a case of their saving morale throws that meant the action went to 9 of the 10 permitted moves.

Another enjoyable run through of this scenario.

Categories
Mid 19th Century Wargaming Vienna Treaty Wars wargame rules wargaming

The Battle of Oeversee 1864

Neil Thomas offered this battle as an example of a small action using his mini battle setting. His rules assumed a 2’x 2′ or 600mm square. So thats board game sized.

His rules say you do not need to rebase. Always a positive these days.

I have a mixture of units – a result of my lock down era painting activity tending to paint what I fancied than worrying about actual armies!

The action is straightforward – the Danes are retreating and use a bottleneck on the key route north towards Jutland. The Danish rearguard are buying time for their main forces to retreat to their last defence line in Schlieswig – the Duppel fortifications.

suggested set up from book – copyright Neil Thomas.

Their opponent was the geographic “Empire” effectively still the Holy Roman Empire but now really the German Confederation post Waterloo with Austrian and Prussian interference/support.

In this case the Austrians were attacking the rearguard.

The Danish Rearguard

  • Infantry Unit A
  • Infantry Unit B
  • Infantry Unit C
  • Infantry Unit D
  • Artillery Battery E

The Artillery was Bronze Rifled while the Infantry were all Levy in loose order armed with rifled muskets.

The Danish troops are all deployed in the bottleneck.

The Austrians Attack starting at the river line comprise

  • 9th Hussars – Average
  • Artillery – 2 batteries both with bronze rifled cannon

Their main forces arrive from move 1 on the main road

  • Jaeger Infantry unit – elite, rifled musket, loose order
  • Skirmishers – elite, rifled musket

On moves 2 & 3 the following units arrive via the same southern road access

  • Infantry Unit 6 – move 2 – average, rifled musket, loose order
  • Infantry Unit 7 – move 3 – average, rifled musket, loose order
  • Infantry Unit 8 – move 3 – average, rifled musket, loose order

Battle Narrative

With the objective to clear all danish forces from the road (at least 12cm from the road) essentially the Austrians simply went through the Front Door.

They had 10 moves to do it in with a win lose outcome and no draw.

Special Rules as suggested by Neil Thomas were used

  • Colonel Muller personal leadership of the Danes means any one unit at the start of any turn can be elite.
  • The Danish Artillery were quite ineffectual so get half the nortmal values in defence and attack
  • The Austrians fresh from rough handling by the French in 1859 adopt bayonet charges in preference to distance firefights. They stay in column the whole game and can charge without restriction (no unit base quantity advantage required)

Some shots of the action

Danish defence face the Austrian advance guard

The stream has no effect on movement except Artillery must use the bridge. The town can be accessed only by Infantry. The lake is impassable to all troops while infantry can move through the wood.

The Austrian battery drops into action as the 9th Hussars begin their fateful attack

The Danish front line are in line and not moving, supported by more mobile Column units behind. If infantry want to move in Neil Thomas’ rules they must be in column.

The 9th Hussars much reduced by musket fire charge home. The Austrian Skirmishers have made little impact but the Artillery have seriously depleted the Danish infantry to their front.
The Danish front line has been blown away by the Austrian Artillery and the Elite Jaeger unit

Note in this game I chose not to field the woeful Danish Artillery ( i.e. I forgot to place them on the board!)

The second line of Danish infantry eventually destroy the Elite Jaeger
But at the cost of another Danish unit when more Austrians charge home
Its the end of move 10 and the final Danish defence was about to be overrun by the Austrians

An Austrian victory seemed to confirm Neil Thomas’ view that history repeats itself with his suggested set up. In his notes he offers several options to up the defence capability of the Danes.

In this case a very narrow Danish Victory suggests a well thought out scenario by Neil Thomas. Generally I have found Neil Thomas scenarios are fun to play because they tend to lead to a lot of action and no quick outcomes. So although asymmetrical in set up they seem to be well balanced games.

Footnote:

The Figures are Irregular Miniatures and Hat for the Danish

In this picture top right clockwise – 1848 Danish Infantry, 1849 Danish Infantry then 1864 Danish and finally some rogue 1860 Piedmontese.
The Austrians are top left clockwise Hat Grenzers – being Skirmishers then Minifigs (1970’s) French Hussars posing as the 9th, Waterloo1815 1859 Austrian Artillery and finally the elite Jaeger are WW1 Belgians painted as Neapolitan 1859 Cracciatori Light Infantry

Elsewhere in the photographs the regular Austrian Infantry on show are Waterloo1815 1859 Austrians in their white coats – in 1864 it was bitter winter weather so soldiers actually fought in their greatcoats.

Neil Thomas offers the mini game as a quick affair and it certainly was. Lots of enjoyment from a two foot square, scenery, dice and some figures.