Remembering JFK - Triumph before tragedy

50 year's on and so much has been written about the tragic assassination of one of America's most charismatic presidents that it does not need to repeated here.

Perhaps a happier, though overshadowed, memory was of his triumphal "homecoming" to Ireland in the summer before the fateful events in Dallas. Kennedy as the great grandchild of Irish immigrants received a tumultuous reception from the crowds that turned out to greet their "returned son". The imagery and importance of his visit for Irish people should not be underestimated. Certainly it left a strong impression on my young parents when they saw him in Cork (picture below of JFK motorcade in St.Patrick's Street).

So there was great joy throughout the country, and perhaps some joy for JFK as well before the dark clouds of November.

I will leave it with JFK's own words, from a short excerpt of his speech to the Oireachtas (both houses of the Irish Parliament):

I am grateful for your welcome and for that of your countrymen.
The 13th day of December, 1862, will be a day long remembered in American history. At Fredericksburg, Va., thousands of men fought and died on one of the bloodiest battlefields of the American Civil War. One of the most brilliant stories of that day was written by a band of 1200 men who went into battle wearing a green sprig in their hats. They bore a proud heritage and a special courage, given to those who had long fought for the cause of freedom. I am referring, of course, to the Irish Brigade. General Robert E. Lee, the great military leader of the Southern Confederate forces, said of this group of men after the battle, "The gallant stand which this bold brigade made on the heights of Fredericksburg is well known. Never were men so brave. They ennobled their race by their splendid gallantry on that desperate occasion. Their brilliant though hopeless assaults on our lines excited the hearty applause of our officers and soldiers."
Of the 1200 men who took part in that assault, 280 survived the battle...... In the fall of 1862, after serving with distinction and gallantry in some of the toughest fighting of this most bloody struggle, the Irish Brigade was presented with a new set of flags...... Today, in recognition of what these gallant Irishmen and what millions of other Irish have done for my country, and through the generosity of the "Fighting 69th," I would like to present one of these flags to the people of Ireland...
I am proud to be the first American President to visit Ireland during his term of office, proud to be addressing this distinguished assembly, and proud of the welcome you have given me. My presence and your welcome, however, only symbolize the many and the enduring links which have bound the Irish and the Americans since the earliest days....

 

The Fourth Annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge

After watching this challenge run for a couple of years as a mere spectator, I decided to take the plunge this year and join in the fun. I'm a slow painter most of the time, which isn't helped by a move away from 15mm to 28mm a few years back. Nevertheless, I feel the challenge will light the fire under many a posterior, my own included, and help shift some lead off the mountain.

The theme this year is great, and has already given me some ideas for the bonus themes, which are also a novel touch. I have a number of projects that have been moving along at a snail's pace, especially the 28mm Austerlitz Project, which myself and a friend are painting up. At least he has the excuse of trying to finish a PhD, but for my part it is pure painting lethargy. So there is a very large pile of French and Austrian 1805 infantry that I picked up at Salute awaiting my attention.

It's also got me moving again on my late war WW1 project (with lots of lovely Great War Miniatures still going unpainted). I glued the British below to their bases last night, and now they just need a lick of primer to be ready for the start on 15th December.

Obviously, it'll also be a chance to paint up some of my new Orinoco Miniatures  Gran Colombians (which I'd like to use for a South American Wars of Independence demonstration game at some show next year)

 

I've set my target at 1000 points, perhaps I'll even make it. Anyway, good luck to all the other painters

2nd game of Dux Britanniarum (with less testing and more playing)

We managed to roll out the muddy golf course that are our current gaming tiles at the Prague Wargames Club for another tale of daring-do's (and sometimes don't's), with a very bloody maul of a Saxon raid on a Romano-British church (no the lads above are not queuing up for confession).

This was the second raid in our new campaign. The Saxons received a bloody nose during their last raid on a Romano-British village. As a result they spent two months nursing their wounds and rebuilding their force. In the meantime the British Lord had lifted enough money (filty lucre) off the Saxons to be able to bribe his warriors to declare him Praefectum (a higher rank on the road to kingship).

The Saxons, still short of cash need to continue raiding until their Warlord has enough money to bribe his way up the social ladder. Only then will he have enough prestige (and cash) to attempt full battle with the British and try to seize a provice, and eventually a kingdom (the Saxons above starting the raid; their target the church in the distance).

Now the Saxons were staring with a -1 to Army morale as they had lost the last raid. They were lucky and got four turns of moves before the British could enter the table. Once at the church they had to pass two looting tests to find the gold. But could they? No, they passed one test (a 5 or 6 on a normal die) and then failed every other one, and sat for the whole game stuck in the church trying to sniff out that last golden chalice.

With all the dithering at the church, there was nothing for it but for the Saxons to get stuck in to the British vanguard to give the boys at the church more time to find the loot and then leg it off the table. (Saxon Hearthguard charging towards the British, followed by the Saxon warriors).

The two elites Saxon units, with Saxon Warlord and champion attached, ploughed into the British Hearthguard, and bounced off! The British played the Shieldwall braced card from the Fate Deck, and the Saxons the Aggressive charge card, which cancelled each out.

The Saxons reeled backwards after a poor dice roll and losing nearly half their men. They were then hit immediately by a fresh group of British Warriors; more casualties (9 now out a total of 12) and then a stack of Shock Points. This added up to more than twice the number of remaining men, and so the two Saxon units routed automatically (Losing ones Amphora). The remainder of the Saxon elite routing off the table below.

The next effect of this mess was that the Saxons had to take an army morale test as two elite units had routed. This led to Saxon army morale being halved (get to 0 morale and the whole army routs off the table).

Dead from the elite Saxon units loitering somewhere in Elysium, or is that Valhalla.

The British tide of units kept coming on as the raiding party was still fumbling with the Vicar's drawers in the church. There was nothing for it but for a combined group of two Saxon Warrior units to charge into the British to delay or hopefully rout some of their opponents.
 

They piled into the British Elite unit and smashed them, but in doing so sustained huge causalities and shock points in turn. The British broke first, but it was a Pyrrhic victory, as the excess shock points then routed both Saxon units. (the result of the final bloody encounter below).

Below, the Saxons still messing around in the church, as the Saxons square up for their final charge.

With the two units of Saxon warriors running for the hills, the Saxon Army morale fell to 0, and it was game (or raid) over.

Again, like the first game, everything ran very smoothly with these rules. The Saxons now have their tails firmly between their legs and must sit out another two months while they recover from their losses.  They can raid again in July, but the campaigning season finishes in September, so they really need a successful raid soon. The next raid will also see them start on a -2 to morale after this defeat. What will it be? hit a wagon train, rustle some sheep, or torch a watchtower. More Lardie mayhem to follow soon with this excellent set of rules. (All figures and buildings by Gripping Beast)

They have no other grave than the sea.

Remembrance day rolls around again, and each year we pull closer to all those centenaries. That said, the war was always a background presence in our family due to my great grandfather and his son, my granduncle, both being killed. Another granduncle survived the Somme, but apparently never fully recovered from the experience.

Again, I have no time for the pomp that seems to increasingly surround this day, so I remember those unfortunates who lost their lives or whose lives were changed forever, by all wars, on all sides. Specifically today at a more personal level I will remember by granduncle Richard Francis Coakley.

His entry in the Mercantile Marine memorial book reads:

"Fireman and Trimmer Richard Francis Coakley. S.S. Antonio (London). Drowned as a result of an attack by an enemy submarine, or killed by a mine, 7th March 1917. Age 18."

The S.S. Antonio was on her way from Barry to Cherbourg with a cargo of hay for the army horses in France. It was 7 miles out of Dartmouth when it was sunk by a mine laid by German U-Boat UC-17. The ship went down with all hands. This was at the beginning of the great U-Boat offensive that carried on throughout 1917.

He has no grave, so his name is inscribed on the Merchant Marine Memorial at Tower Hill in London. Apart from that, all we have left is his posthumous Service Medal below.

 

The U-Boat UC-17 was commanded by Kapitänleutnant Ralph Wenninger (picture below) in 1917, and was part of the Flandern Flotilla. It was one of the most successful U-Boats of WW1, sinking a total of 96 ships. UC-17 and her crew survived the war, and surrendered on 26th November 1918. She was Broken up in Preston the following year.

Ralph Wenninger then commanded another U-Boat in 1918, and survived with just a handful of his crew when their boat (UB 55) was sunk by a mine in Dover. He was awarded the Pour le Mérite (the Blue Max) just before the sinking. He stayed in the German Navy after the war, and then joined the Luftwaffe in 1935. He was killed in Italy on 13th March 1945. Another grave and another loss to a family.

The epitaph on the Merchant Seaman's Memorial sums up all that needs to be said: 

TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND TO THE HONOUR OF
TWELVE THOUSAND OF THE MERCHANT NAVY AND FISHING FLEETS
WHO HAVE NO GRAVE BUT THE SEA

Happy Samhain / All Hallows Eve / Halloween

Happy Samhain to All! Now most people know this as Halloween and presume that it is some American festival, and of course nothing could be further from the truth. As a young lad growing up in Cork we always celebrated 31st October. This was not a trick or treating event, but an evening spent playing various games like trying to take a bite out of an apple on a string, or dunking apples, watching bonfires, and eating Irish stew and especially the sweet bread called barmbrak (Irish: bairín breac), and see if you were lucky enough to find a ring or a coin in the cake (and not a rag or a stick). 

Samhain was one of the four main pre-Christian festivals and usually fire was a key symbol. Some of these have survived through to the modern day especially in Cork and the wilds of West Cork, so that on 23rd June we also lit large bonfires and celebrated St.John's Eve (or
Lughnasa as the old festival was called). 

So the Irish stew with a glass of Guinness is on the table and the barmbrack is in the oven. I hope a great evening is had by all who read this blog.

First test game of Dux Britanniarum

After reading many positive reviews of Dux Britanniarum, and having had great games with Sharp Practice, I got the full set of the game along with printed cards a few weeks ago.  I had already tried out the other "Dux" (Dux Bellorum) a while back, which itself was very good for larger stand alone battles.

I don't need to repeat in detail the high production values, but it's all there and the cards are a nice touch.  The rule mechanics seem straight forward, as is usual with the Lardies rules stable, while the addition of a separate Fate Deck of cards really makes for a dynamic game.

We decided to start with a test game, which was also the first encounter of the campaign. As others have mentioned, the campaign system is the real draw of the rules. This first encounter was a Saxon raid on a Romano-British village. As part of the campaign system the Saxon Lord has to build up wealth (or "Filthy Lucre") through a series of village and cattle raids, as well as raids on wagon trains and Churches. With a sufficient amount of victories he is able advance his social position and eventually bribe his warriors to declare him Warlord. Only via this process can he gain the fighting units and social prestige that will eventually allow him to conquer his first province and hopefully set him on the road to conquer a small kingdom.

The Kingdom coming under attack was the North British one of Rheged, and the raid was on the province of Caer Brogwm (just south of Hadrian's Wall in what now would be Cumbria). The Saxons were attacking from Coriosopitum in the old Kingdom of Bernaccia (current Northumberland) which had recently fallen to the Saxons.

The task for the Saxons, pretty much like a modern bank robbery, was to get in, find the stash of gold in the village and get out quickly. The objective of the British was to stop, catch or hinder them in every way possible (basically try to wipe them out).
 

The Saxons were led by a new Lord, Aethelfrith (pictured at the very top with his champion), who was on his first raid, supported by two other nobles, Eadric and Theobold. As you see, in the rules there is a character generation procedure before the campaign begins. This is a nice touch, and gets you closer to "owning" your force (the characteristics that you have to roll for will also effect how they perform in the battles and campaign).

In this particular raid, the Saxons managed to get a four turn head start before the British turned up. This was enough to get the second-in-command and a band of warriors into the village to start searching for the gold (Eadric above cajoling his warriors to find the loot).

The British when they did arrived turned up in the middle edge of the table, half way between the village and the escape route for the raiding Saxons. They then proceeded to slam into the back of one unit of Saxon Elite Warriors (see the picture above), who lost a few casualties, but more importantly took a lot of shock points, indeed many more than they had men, and so triggered what was an automatic rout (called "Losing your Amphora") from which there could be no rally (the remains of the unit rout below).

To stall the British further I sent a combined unit of two Warrior bands, with the attached Saxon Lord and his Champion (this gives multiples of points in Close Combat). To this was added an "Aggressive Charge" Fate card which added more advantages, though the British played a Shield wall Braced Fate Card as well, plus the British in Shield wall will always ignore the first kill inflicted on them. Now the Fate Deck cards, plus some good dice, can be key to any encounter and are at the heart of the combat mechanism. Each side get 5 cards at the start of the game, and can use the cards or hoard as needed. Each of the cards confers a certain tactical advantage in combat (or evading it). In some instances you can play multiple cards in one Close Combat, but each noble can only pick up one card at the end his activation, so you have to be careful how you use them.

Anyway, in this instance the Saxons manage to rout one unit, though the second held. In the next few rounds of combat though, the British Shield wall wore the Saxons down and they finally routed.

During this period of fighting the other Saxon warband was searching through the village and finally after 5 loot tests to find the gold came up trumps and started the long journey back off the table while trying to avoid the British (you can't fight and carry bags of gold at the same time).

Now the other thing that was happening was that the Saxon army morale was slowly counting down. With each routed unit the rest of the force has to take a morale test, the result of which will reduce army morale. Once army morale gets to Zero then the whole force abandons the table. Each starts the game with a morale of 5, and then with some dice rolls during the start phase this can be pushed up to a maximum of 9. Lose a raid, and in the next campaign games your force starts on a -1 to morale, encouraging the player to be a bit cautious.

In this case, the rout of one Saxon unit dropped army morale below zero, and the Saxons fled the field pursued by the British. They had taken moderate casualties which meant that it would take 2 campaigning months for the force to recover. The British as winner got to keep the gold and some more from the Saxons, and could replenish their losses faster, thus giving them a free hand in the next campaign month. If the Saxons had won, they could have had an unopposed raid the following month to increase wealth, and with that perhaps increased the lord's status and even hired extra units for the next raid or battle. I think this gives you an idea of how good the campaign system is, and how it informs the table top game.

I really can't recommend the rules highly enough. All the figures and buildings were from Gripping Beast, apart from Aethelfrith himself, who is a really well sculpted figure from Musketeer Miniatures.

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.