Tag: The Twins War

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Mythical Realms Vienna Treaty Wars wargaming

Fauxterre: 1816 Part 2 – The Twins War

18th March 1816 somewhere in western Zarland.

General Stute of the VinAlban Army was in command of a weak advance guard pushed out to ensure no surprises as the VinAlbans marched south into Zarland.

General Stute cuts a fine if lonely figure on the Arensburg – not to be confused with Kloster Arens located eastwards across the valley of the river Hase.
A rather accurate map (for once) supplied by the Vin Alban Company of Military Surveyors

General Stute’s force descends along the road into the valley of the river Hase. Patrols on either side are already alert to possible enemy activity.

The early morning mist makes it difficult to see the forces involved

They cross the river bridge below Kloster Arens, a rather imposing set of buildings set on the edge of the valley.

General Sumpf of the Royal Zarland Army had been rashly sent (in his opinion) to secure the Arensburg which controls a key road junction west of the river Hase.

in foreground golden cards are Zarlanders, green in the valley are VinAlbans.

General Sumpf had let his force stretch out on the road as his officers had pushed on hard. The men had risen well before daybreak and only now were the mists lifting on what would surely be a clear sunny yet cold day.

The River Hase is crossed by a stout bridge – good for artillery, the river is fordable while a wooden bridge (local name old sawmill bridge) permits foot soldiers and cavalry a dry crossing further south.

The Kloster Arens masked the river valley General Sumpf needed to cross to reach the Arensburg.

Suddenly his troops leave the road in a hurried but directed manner. The General is soon informed – the enemy are in the valley. His leading troops have secured the ridge and Kloster Arens.

As they turn the road corner at Kloster Arens, the 13th Nurtberg Infantry collide with the VinAlban column ascending the valley side. The VinAlban 1st Artillery battery was in the lead and promptly deployed.

The VinAlbans are surprised by the appearance of the enemy troops on the ridge and around Kloster Arens yet continue to march up the valley side. They react by dispersing, trying to form a battle line in and around Kloster Arens.

General Stutes VinAlban force is in a vulnerable position – he already regrets not securing the ridge before crossing the valley: No cavalry and no skirmishers in an advance guard, what was General Geflugel thinking?

He reflects on the exchange a few days earlier with that pompous staff officer Major Heinz Grimble: “What do you mean they are all second battalions – more like depot battalions – get out of my sight Grimble!”

Right now he could do with the 1st Battalions he thought he was getting.

A sharp action commences and it is the VinAlban 1st artillery who claim the first success deploying swiftly at the head of the VinAlban column as it climbed out of the valley. The Zarlanders are too close, fail to react and suffer a great volley of canister – yet they are close enough to rush the gun and capture it driving off the VinAlban artillerymen.

The 13th Nurtberg Zarland Infantry take serious damage from the 1st VinAlban artillery

Overreaching themselves the victorious 13th Nurtberg Zarland Infantry are confusingly attacked by the 13th VinAlban Fusiliers and sent in chaos back over the ridge and beyond the Kloster Arens into South Wood. The VinAlbans almost have the ridge.

In turn the 13th VinAlban Fusiliers attack the Zarlanders with instant success

Then the 13th VinAlban Fusiliers in their turn met a withering fire from the Zarland 6th Dirkheim Artillery.

Now the 13th VinAlban Fusiliers are on the receiving end. The 6th Dirkheim Artillery shatter the advancing VinAlban column.

It was now 10.00 am and the Vin Albans (12th VinAlban Fusiliers) were also on the ridge to the north of Kloster Arens. Here they were soon thrown back by the Zarland 5th Gellenstein Cavalry and 12th Maulhadt Infantry Regiment.

The VinAlbans seek to control Kloster Arens with the 12th Fusiliers advancing round the marshland while the 11th Fusiliers take Kloster Arens itself. The 12th Maulhadt Zarland IR and the 5th Gellenstein Zarland Cavalry repel the 12th Fusiliers.

By 11.00 am the tenuous VinAlban hold on the ridge around Kloster Arens was proving stronger than General Sumpf liked. His 5th Gellenstein Cavalry had initially driven off the 12th VinAlban Fusiliers but these inspired troops decided to return to the fray.

Leaving the 12th VinAlban fusiliers to the care of the 12th Maulhadt Zarland IR the 5th Gellenstein Cavalry head off to secure the right flank of the Zarland ridge line

Today it is the 12th VinAlban Fusiliers who are up for the fight. They drive off the 12th Maulhadt IR who seem to have been preoccupied by the departure of the 5th Gellenstein Cavalry.

The Maulhadt 12th IR were promptly driven off by the VinAlban 12th Fusiliers

The 5th Gellenstein Cavalry now had no option but to return to the marshlands and again attempt to clear the enemy from that part of the ridge.

No reinforcements appear along the road from Vin Alba. Across the distant ridge the Zarlanders fought to keep their line. The Zarland 5th Gellenstein Cavalry are engaging the redoubtable 12th VinAlban Fusiliers

By now it was early afternoon and the Zarlander forces recovering from being strung out on the road were beginning to press home their local advantage and dislodge the VinAlbans from Kloster Arens. The 6th Dirkheim Artillery blast away at the Kloster Arens walled gardens much to the dismay of its owners hiding within.

The VinAlbans still just held on and the 12th VinAlban Fusiliers now saw off the 5th Gellenstein Lancers – much to General Sumpf’s disgust.

Woe for the 5th Gellenstein Cavalry as the 12th VinAlban Fusiliers send them packing.

General Stute had already dispatched couriers to his main body. And around 1600 the 11th Vin Alban Fusiliers quit the Kloster Arens as the 4th Zarland Infantry Regiment, the Benkendorf, broke in to the surrounding walled gardens.

The 11th VinAlban Fusiliers and the 2nd VinAlban Artillery are driven from the Kloster Arens

As General Stute withdrew his artillery and infantry, General Sumpf was content to secure Kloster Arens. The Arensburg could wait until tomorrow.

The heroic 12th VinAlban Fusiliers cover the retreat of the VinAlban advanced guard north along the ridge

Firing died away as the Zarlanders posted their pickets and found the best bivouacs before their main body arrived!

All quiet as the Zarlanders post their pickets and patrols

The narrative is drawn from the game – played solo/zero. In the next part I will detail the rules used.

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Mythical Realms wargaming

Fauxterre: Campaigning without Maps

Surely Campaigning without maps is an oxymoron? and when it comes to wargaming, maps are central to what defines wargame campaigns as opposed to say, endless rounds of competition encounter battles.

Well thats true. I have spent most of my wargaming life pursuing the mantra that the greater the detailed map the more satisfying the campaign.

Or so I thought.

I guess there have been numerous nudges away from that point of view when I think about it.

The thing is that I have applied the same abstraction that works for the field of battle to campaign maps. Out go measured marches and in comes the dreaded “outcome”. I suppose the test for some might be “does the end justify the means?” or why waste time getting a result that does not improve your hobby enjoyment.

Except “process” is what a lot of wargaming is and that means the process is the enjoyment in itself.

Moving pieces across a map at steady rates, checking the weather, accounting for ground conditions and working out where the enemy is are themselves a process to get to that almighty battle outcome – ok 6 units a side armed with One Hour Wargames – because you must go shopping or rearrange the cushions on the settee this afternoon for an evening watching the football/that latest box set/a comedy (delete /insert as appropriate).

It is not all about “outcomes ” because you could complete the abstraction and just toss a coin to find out who won that 5 year campaign you cannot seem to finish.

abstraction or the level of abstraction is often best considered in art – East Coast port image to be found in Hull Ferens Art Gallery.

It is about putting your effort into those parts of the process you most want to enjoy and sacrificing others through abstration to get you to those parts that matter.

And it is not that I don’t have any maps. I just use them in certain areas. I just don’t measure movement of forces “to scale” across them.

To my mind wargame rules came to the fore in the decades when scale paper maps became something to be purchased and valued – and used. People were taught eastings and northings and also how to fold a map. Remember some Generals fought their battles on the creases of the map in the pouring rain……..

Today you just flick the “app” tap a few virtual buttons and a high resolution image appears – is that my neighbours 3rd or 4th car – don’t remember it being that red – just how old is that image anyway…….sat navs beware……

For my Twins War in Fauxterre I have a narrative map.

High Res image of a low res campaign map!

Fauxterre is explained here:

https://wordpress.com/post/thewargamingerratic.home.blog/2061 .

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/QSH_Tin_Wind_Up_Astro-Scout_Doppelg%C3%A4nger_%28Journey_to_the_Far_Side_of_the_Sun%29_Movie_Homage_2.jpg
D J Shin, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

And I do have a means of moving forces in Fauxterre – it is an abstraction.

So here is the abstraction for my Twins War in Fauxterre.

looks familiar…………..

I guess at a certain point – by the late 1990’s? the DBA wargame rules offered the most popular version of this diagram.

well used and enjoyed
the last page

By version 3.0 campaigns had been quietly dropped from the title along with the diagram.

Except NO! – the diagram had been replaced by a set of words in the giant hardback tome that is now DBA post 2014: Maybe a case of more becoming less?

ok so you get colour and royal purple(maybe mauve?) but the simple diagram has been discarded in favour of words

I suspect this diagram had in the meantime launched tens of thousands of wargames campaigns – ok maybe thats a bit excessive!

Well that’s it for now, I will explore the mechanisms that allow me to abstract the mapping activity in a way that balances my available time, the process, the outcome and most of all the enjoyment of solo wargame campaigns.

I will finish with some words from Donald Featherstone which are surprising given they are to be found in his book War Game Campaigns.

quite a statement in a book devoted to campaigning wargames! the one about the real meat of the hobby NOT austrian armies rolling over……………

That is the challenge – making table top battles part of a narrative or simply having continuity requires effort. Effort which is not available for gaming the battles or painting the troops. Take your pick or choose your abstraction.