The Perfect Captain - Spanish Fury 2 or Pistolado test game

Unfortunately that small little detail - life - occasionally gets in the way of blogging. September has indeed been a tad spartan on blog front, so I thought I'd throw up a few images of the nicely painted toys we used in a game this afternoon at the club in Prague. This was a test game for an updated set of rules Spanish Fury-Pistolado from The Perfect Captain team.

At first site this is a nice looking set of rules dealing with the late 16th Century conflicts of the 80 Years War (wars of Dutch Independence) and the French Wars of Religion (but could be used for any 16th Century conflict). Like all the Perfect Captain rule sets, these can be downloaded for free from here: Spanish Fury Rules

The production values of the various unit cards, counters and scenarios are very high, and it's really just down to the quality of your printer how well they will look. The rules are laid out in the usual Question-Answer format of all the Perfect Captain rule sets (such as Red Actions for example). Frankly I don't like this and it led to a lot of head scratching as we tried to figure out the rules during the test game. Though written for 80 Years war, we decided that they would make a good base for adapting to the 30 years war.

In regard to the mechanisms, once we got through the maze that is the rule set, these turned out to be quite straightforward. All actions are simultaneous, and questions of who goes first in contested sectors is solved by comparing the initiative levels of given commanders and a roll of dice.

Firing is by size of units cross referenced with the size of the target, with standard modifiers.  Changing formation/ crossing obstacles requires a "Marshaling test" which essentially is to see if the action can be completed or not, and if it causes any disruption. This is quite good and is a fair representation of the difficulties in moving blocks of Pike and Shot. Disruption which is represented by different levels of Cohesion, can also be caused when taking casualties, or if the army morale declines. Decline in levels of cohesion will effect how a unit fires or performs in close combat. This focus on morale and cohesion seems correct. My only quibble is that Artillery seems to be too powerful. Perhaps we didn't understand the rules correctly, but the artillery seemd to be highly effective in disrupting units, which I believe was only tue in a few instances during this period (such as Swedish artillery in one or two battles).

Basic to the rules is that both sides' brigades must have written orders at all times. Changing orders is tricky as well, as they take time to arrive, and depending on the quality or character of the officer in charge, they may decide to ignore or change their orders. Commanders can also doubt there existing orders and try to change them as well in certain circumstances. This to me nicely represents the friction of Renaissance battle.

The test battle was a basic Imperials versus Bohemians (with some Swedes thrown in), and took the form of a frontal slog, both sides having assault orders. As said after an hour the game was moving along smoothly. The Cavalry charging/counter charging mechanism was standard and worked well, and the melee results relaistic. What I particulalry liked about the melee and firing rules were that the chance of dice had a lower effect on the outcome if there was a clear imbalance of force; many casualties and disruption to cohesion points were automatic to a certain level if your regiment  was large enough. So "double 1" anomalies were few and far between, and the results realistic to my mind.

The next task for us now is to create some more 30 year war unit specific cards, and the bigger job of stripping down the current ruleset and to re-arrange it in a more convential format.

The figures were all from my friend Petr, and were a mix of Perry, Foundry, and Warlord Games, all the flags were hand painted, many on cloth.

Death of Seamus Heaney

It was with much regret this afternoon that I heard of the death of one of Ireland's greatest poets Seamus Heaney. Of course he did not belong to Ireland, but was part of the broader stream of European poetry over the last 50 years since his seminal first collection "Death of a Naturalist", though many of the motifs he used were taken from his rural childhood.

I had the good fortune to meet him briefly in Prague 3 years ago after a poetry recital at Strahov Monastery (organised by the Irish Embassy here). Considering his immense stature in world literature, he was a very modest, unassuming and down to earth gentleman.  He will surely be missed

Below a few lines from one of my favourite poems from "Death of a Naturalist"

Lovers on Aran

The timeless waves, bright, sifting, broken glass,

Came dazzling around, into the rocks,
Came glinting, sifting from the Americas 

To possess Aran. Or did Aran rush

to throw wide arms of rock around a tide
That yielded with an ebb, with a soft crash?

Did sea define the land or land the sea?

Each drew new meaning from the waves' collision.
Sea broke on land to full identity.

Opa "Guilford Courthouse" style...

Normally the Prague Wargamers take a break over the summer holidays. Many families in the Czech Republic have country cottages to which they go to during the weekends to  escape the heat in Prague (summers are short but very hot in Bohemia). So from start of June to September wargaming stops. One exception is my friend Petr, who always organizes a game and BBQ. In this instance last week we gamed a stripped down version of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse (or rather a game inspired by it)

 The British, with a smaller but higher quality force were faced by the Americans with a few lines of militia behind fences, in front of a second line of Continentals. To win the day, the British would have to punch through the militia and strike at the Continental main force behind.

 Militia (we can say North Carolina) in the first line awaiting the British attack.

 The British line infantry advancing to attack.

 British skirmish line in front duelling with American skirmishers and militia.

The rules we used were the first edition of British Grenadier. We do have the second edition, but forgot it on the day. We believe the game played more-or-less the same anyway, Disruption Points being one of the key game mechanics.

The game played out in a remarkably similar fashion to the actual battle. The British pushed aside the Militia in the centre, but were badly shaken on the right flank as disruption points mounted up, and then were charged by Continental dragoons.

American guns about to be overrun by British grenadiers.

The British open up the American Centre (a militia unit has just routed and disintegrated).

 

The American centre is forced wider open. At this point the American army was effectively split in two. What followed was the slow and grinding reduction of the American second line
  

British Cavalry flows through the gap and catches first two American infantry units in the flank, followed by a regiment of American dragoons. The American right flank is routed from the field for the cost of one British battalion (which charged forward unwisely only to be also caught in the flank by American cavalry).

 The British right flank in trouble. Already pushed back and close to routing.

At this stage we called the battle, and decided it was a marginal British victory. The American Centre and right flanks were gone.  They were fighting on gallantly on the left flank, and had forced the British brigade there to retreat (and captured the British guns). However, the British brigade which had stormed and wiped out the American centre were now turning on the American right flank, and had mostly fresh elite troops (including Grenadiers), so it was just a case of when the last American flank would collapse.

 The pile of American lead casualties.

The British casualties.

The game played well, and was a tactical victory for the British, though considering the number of British casualties suffered, this would have been a strategic victory for the Americans. As in the actual war, it was the attrition on British units (as successfully advocated by the American General Morgan), and not battles won, that decided the war in America's favour.

New sculpts and releases over at Orinoco Miniatures

Just to let you know that you can find news of many new releases in the pipeline over at my  Orinoco Miniatures Blog.

This includes new Spanish and Gran Colombian Infantry, along with a new range of flags (see image above).

I hope you like them :-)

Battle of Kolin, 1757

 Picture I took of the 250th Anniversary commemoration/reenactment back in 2007

Today, after returning from holiday in Italy, Mrs. Goose, the wee one and I took a spin out into the Bohemian countryside. After a few days of heatwave, and the previous heat in Italy, we were blessed with one day of mild weather. We spent most of the day out in a lovely town called Kutna Hora, which is about 70km east of Prague, two images of which I include below:

This really is a cracking little town, a virtually unspoilt mixture of Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque architecture, the jewel of which has to be Saint Barbora's Cathedral. Anyway, by way of return, we took a detour via Kolin so that I could take a few quick pictures of the battlefield. Now I will try to spend a full day out in Kolin in the near future, and do a proper walk and photo shoot of the battle site, so these are just some quick preliminary highlights.

The battle took place on a ridge running West to East along the edge of a plateau overlooking the Elbe valley/flood plains to the North. The two main points are the Prerovsky and Krechor hills, which fixed the axis of the Austrian Battle line, which are about 700 metres behind the village of Krechor (where the main battle monument and an old Swedish fortified camp from the 30 Years' war are located). The logic of the battle was straightforward, Frederick and his Prussian Army had Prague under siege after defeating the Austrian Army of Von Browne outside the city. The second Imperial Army under Marshall Daun were marching to it's relief, and ostensibly to manoeuvre the Prussians into an ambush (for Daun had pre-picked this ground for his battle the previous year).

The pictures above shows the view from the Monument, looking down over grain fields to the old Kaiser Strasse (which you can see in the middle distance above), up from which the main Prussian attack came. This is more or less how the field would have looked on the day of the battle. The fields and the old Swedish camp were full of Croatian Grenzers, giving the Prussians a hard time as they sought to close with the main Austrian line on the ridge behind.

The advantage of the Austrian position was that as the Prussians marched up the hill, all they could see was the line of the hill where the Croatian Grenzers were positioned. This of course was a false ridge. The main ridge lay further back, with nearly 700 meters of dead ground in between, where Daun placed the bulk of his line. One can speculate that he fooled the Prussians (32,000 strong) into attacking what they though was a weak force, being fully committed before realising they were walking straight into the main Austrian army (with nearly 60,000 troops)

 

You can still see the height of the ditch of the old Swedish fortified encampment above. This ditch runs for nearly half a kilometre west from the village of Krechor, and gave the Croatian Grenzers great cover. The main battle monument is at the Western end of the ditch.

Looking from the top of the old Swedish camp North-East, Krechor Village is to the right of the photograph.

 Above you can see the view from the main ridge North (taken from the road between Krechor and Chocenice), the dead ground in front is apparent. To the left of the second picture you can just see the top of the monument. None of the ground was visible to the Prussians until they passed the old Swedish Camp.

Above you can see the view towards the main ridge (Krechor Hill) and Austrian line (looking South). The Prussian attack would have gone in over the immediate foreground, after they had pushed back the Croatian light infantry.

In the three pictures above you can see the view towards the Austrian right flank on the hidden ridge. This is where the original Oak wood stood which anchored the Austrian flank behind the village of Krechor. Here is where the Austrians flank (under General Wied) was driven back in the late afternoon (4pm) by Prussian combined infantry and cavalry attacks (including those by Seydlitz), and pushed almost to the reverse slope of the ridge. After almost 3 hours of charge and counter charge, the Prussians in turn were driven back eventually by the Austrian Cavalry and especially Saxon Cavalry Regiments bent on revenge (the Prussians had occupied Saxony the previous autumn). This began the general retreat of the Prussian army.

 

The images above are looking West along the Austrian lines from there right flank. The Oak Wood would have stood roughly in the area of the first picture, where you can already see the beginning of the reverse slope.
 

The painting by Knotel above of the Leibgarde probably best captures the scene late in the day with thousands of cavalry milling around, and Prussians being attacked on all sides.

 For a better understanding of the battle I borrowed this map image from the Internet.

Above you can see the main monument to the battle, on top of the ditch of the old Swedish Camp.

Above the start of Krechor village, and the Church, through which the Prussian General Hulsen's battalions attacked.

For more information I can recommend Osprey Campaign book of the battle which you can buy here:  Kolin 1757: Osprey Campaign 91
This really gives the best account of the battle I've seen, apart from that by Christopher Duffy of course.

In the next post I'll have some pictures of the River Piave battlefields from the Italian front in World War 1.