Second Move

Alzheimer Gunners about to give Johnny Gallispan a jolly good hiding!

No chance cards were drawn this move for either side, so the Gallispans made like busy beavers and began sapping forward.

They opened two trenches and, using three working parties on each, constructed two 36” saps, zig-zagging every 12” as they went.

This left them with an unoccupied working party, so these brave souls went forward along the left-hand sap and constructed 12” of the second parallel.

The Gallispans also now moved to occupy their works, The Gardes Francaises and the Bourbonnois regiments occupying the first parallel, whilst the Berry and la Reine Regiments received their orders to occupy the second parallel once it was completed.

On the Alzheimer side, “Kinsky” watched the sudden surge in Gallispan activity with not a small degree of alarm and while not relenting with his mining activities, determined to open fire on the enemy saps.

Batteries one and two in Bastion Kurprinz opened fire – Battery One demolished the Parapet thrown up before the incomplete second parallel, effectively destroying it. Batteries Three and Four in the Kurprinzessin failed dismally to hit a single thing, whilst Batteries Five and Six in the Kurfurstin Bastion were very successful indeed, destroying two 12” lengths of sap.

Neither side elected to make an ACTION move, so this concluded the second move.

Oh, the Gallispans were gnashing their teeth that night!

NOTES:
Chance cards – at the start of each move, each side draws a chance card from a deck of 20. Half are blank, the other half have various “amusing” (to me!) incidents printed on them.

Move One - Alzheimer

Oberst-Lieutenant Kinsky and his Chief of Engineers, von Fotze stood on the lip of the towns’ glacis.

Von Fotze lowered his glass and opined: “Herr Oberst-Lieutenant, it seems to me that the Gallispans have opened their first parallel and that they have almost finished buildind infantry redoubts at either end.”

“Very good, Captain. Ah, I see my fusiliers are taking a turn on the covered way today?”

“Yes Sir, but-“ and von Fotze lowered his voice “- their morale is low after the last beating they took. They looked more like refugees than soldiers when they came into town.”

Kinsky stuck out his bottom lip. “That won’t do! No, that won’t do at all! Let’s give them something to do other than just stand around. I want three listening galleries driven forward from the edge of the ditch. Knock holes in the counter-scarp if you have to. Start now – it’s slow work, so the earlier we get to it the better. By the time our Gallispan friends have sapped up, we might get far enough out to give them a nice surprise.”

One of the gunners had been trailing them like a lost puppy and now piped up. “Your Excellency, begging your pardon, but I’ve been taking the range and I think I could get a ball as far as the enemy lines.”

Kinsky turned to the man and shook his head. “No. We will wait until he has dug himself further into range before we start burning powder.” He clapped the man on the shoulder. “Don’t worry my lad, there’ll be more than enough to do, bye-and-bye! Now, von Fotze, a crown for each man in the working party that cuts the most clay – does that sound reasonable?”

NOTES:
Mines are dug at the rate of 1” per strategic move.

Detonating a mine or engaging in a day’s artillery fire (ie, firing one’s Artillery in a SIEGE Move) expends a unit of powder. Kinsky has 15 at his disposal. To win, he must hold out for 20 days. Kinsky is seeking to shorten the range before he opens fire.

Kinsky has three infantry units at his disposal. He can this dispose of three engineering officers and thus employ three working parties.

IR35 is on the covered way whilst IR13 mans the bastions and ravelin. The Leib Battalion is in reserve.

With all stragglers now in, IR35 stands at 31 figures.

The Gallispan siege lines are 72” from the salient point of the ravelin and thus at the uttermost extremity of cannon-shot.

First Move - Gallispans

The Marquis de Gonsalvo

In the inevitably gray light that preceeds the dawn, silent files of men were issuing forth from the Gallispan camp.

Each man bore a burden. Some carried ordinary tools in the shape of shovels, mattocks and pick-axes. Others bore stranger items – long bundles of brush-wood that took two men to handle; these were called fascines. Some men wheeled in small carts or simply rolled gabions, large basket-like objects, open at both ends, woven from supple withies.

At the softly-voiced commands of their officers and NCOs all these men stopped and formed a long line facing the Alzheimer fortress.

The Marquis de Gonsalvo dropped his handkerchief fluttering to the ground. At this sign, his engineering officers made their last adjustments to the line, necessary since it was almost as long as two infantry battalions were wide! The men then planted each before themselves a gabion and started to dig.

As they dug, the soil thus excavated was flung up into the gabions, first to fill them, then to cascade in a natural rampart on the side facing the fortress. The fascines were used to bind the rampart laterally and to top the gabions off.

Whilst the line of the first parallel was being constructed, other parties, each under the close supervision of an engineer began to build one at each end, a redoubt roomy enough to hold an entire company of infantry. Gonsalvo noted with satisfaction that Brunetti his Chief of Engineers had taken him seriously on his worries about having strong places where he could shelter his infantry as they waited to counter-attack the inevitable raiders he was sure would come with mischief in mind!

He noted that Brunetti was keeping busy supervising the cutting of some embrasures in the new parapet. He was a good, conscientious officer. Breathing deep of the sour smell of the freshly-turned earth, he wondered if this might not be the odour of success?

NOTES:

Engineering officers are issued at the rate of one for each infantry regiment a side has.

The Gallispans have seven regiments\battalions and thus seven engineers.

A working party needs to be supervised by an Engineering Officer for relatively complex tasks. Each party can create 12" of parallel in a strategic turn.

"Gonsalvo" elected to build a first parallel wide enough to take two infantry units minus their grenadier companies which he intends to house in the redoubts at its' extremities. In the centre is a small battery position in which he'll be mounting a pair of battalion guns for protection against raiders.

My infantry units have a frontage of approximately 20" and thus we need four working parties to open the parallel, another two to build the redoubts and another to create the small battery position, for a neat total of seven fully-employed working parties.

Rules, rules and more rules.

I just thought I’d take the time to lay out a few basics on the siege rules I’ll be using for this game.

The rules are based on a slightly incomplete set published in “The Courier” years ago by Gary Comardo and heavily modified by me as I like my rules a little less abstract, although I preserve his turn sequence intact.

There are two move types, SEIGE and ACTION.

The turn Sequence for the SEIGE move is as follows:

a) Attacker constructs new works
b) Defender constructs new works
c) Attacker places troops in his/her works
d) Defender places troops in his/her works
e) Defender explodes mines
f) Attacker explodes mines
g) Defender fires cannons
h) Attacker fires cannons
i) Defender fires small-arms
j) Attacker fires small-arms
k) Either side may call for an ACTION sequence

You can find many of the basic ideas that I have “plugged into” this turn sequence in earlier postings:

http://mavisming.blogspot.com/2006/05/seige-rules-some-considerations.html

http://mavisming.blogspot.com/2006/05/couple-more-seige-warfare-thoughts.html


The ACTION turn is played out as a tabletop action, using your favoured war-gaming rules. I favour the Charge! Basic rules as they are quite straight-forward.

As I see it, SEIGE moves will largely be played out on a map, whilst the ACTION moves would occour on the tabletop.

Dramatis Personae

How do you like that, no sooner had I started trawling through Tony Baths' "Setting Up a Wargames Campaign", than one of the OSW comes up with a personality generator!

Without further ado then, I present first the Alzheimer command:

#1Name:Oberst-Lieutenant Kinsky
Major Trait: AMBITION(4)
Other traits:
Great lover
Resolutely loyal
Not easily angered
Highly energetic
Arrogant and stiff-necked

#2Name: Gouvenor Krumpler
Major Trait: AMBITION(4)
Other traits:
Inclined to mercy
Disloyal intriguer
Somewhat lazy
Very generous
Sharp temper if provoked
Rather proud

#3Name:Von Fotze, Major of Engineers, Alzheimer Chief Engineer.
Major Trait: GOOD NATURE(12)
Other traits:
Very courageous
Usually loyal
Easily tempted
Rather proud

#4Name: Oberst-Lieutenant von Gruber, Proprieter Lieb Battalion
Major Trait: LOVE OF WAR (PATRIOTISM if a woman)(12)
Other traits:
Great lover
A bit of a flatterer
Rather proud
Mostly loyal
Ugly

#5Name:Oberst-Lieutenant von Itzenplitz, Proprieter IR13
Major Trait: LOVE OF WEALTH(10)
Other traits:
Not easily angered
Great lover
Loyal intriguer
Average looks
Touchy about family honor

#6 Name:Oberst-Lieutenant von Erdmann, Proprieter IR35
Major Trait: LOVE OF WAR (PATRIOTISM if a woman)(12)
Other traits:
Inclined to mercy
Great lover
Rather proud
Very jealous of family honor
Easily tempted
Very charming

#7Name:Captain Kalnocky, hetman of the light forces
Major Trait: AMBITION(7)
Other traits:
Great lover
Very charsimatic and persuasive
Unreliable, a liar and oath-breaker
Merciless, revenge-prone

#8 Name: Georg, Ritter v. Blasthof, Colonel of Dragoons
Major Trait: LOVE OF WAR (PATRIOTISM if a woman)(7)
Other traits:
Rather proud
Thinks ahead most of the time
Very charming
Rather dull-witted

And hereinunder, The Gallispan command:

#1Name: Marquis de Gonsalvo, Commander of the Gallispan Seige Forces
Major Trait: AMBITION(7)
Other traits:
Usually loyal
Ugly temper
Holds grudges

#2 Name:Major Brunetti, Gallispan Chief Engineer
Major Trait: LOVE OF WEALTH(8)
Other traits:
Thinks ahead most of the time
Great lover
Arrogant and stiff-necked
Steadfast in danger

#3 Name:Christian de Neuvillette, Colonel of the Gardes Francaises
Major Trait: LOVE OF WAR (PATRIOTISM if a woman)(6)
Other traits:
Generous if in a good mood
Great lover
Sharp temper if provoked
Very jealous of family honor
Holds grudges

#4 Name:Col. Carbon de Castel, Jaloux, Colonel of Boubonnois
Major Trait: LOVE OF WEALTH(4)
Other traits:
A bit of a flatterer
Inclined to mercy
Very courageous
Not easily angered
Somewhat active

#5 Name: M. le Comte de Guiche, Colonel of Languedoc
Major Trait: GOOD NATURE(9)
Other traits:
Highly energetic
Rather dull-witted
Unreliable, a liar and oath-breaker
Very charsimatic and persuasive

#6 Name:M. le Vicomte de Valvert, Colonel de Berry
Major Trait: AMBITION(3)
Other traits:
Very cruel
Very wise and far-sighted
Touchy about family honor
Ugly temper
Ugly

#7 Name:M. le Comte de Montfleury, Colonel de la Reine
Major Trait: LOVE OF WAR (PATRIOTISM if a woman)(3)
Other traits:
Very good temper
Somewhat cunning
Highly energetic
Steadfast in danger

#8 Name: Bertrandou, Marquis de Bellerose, Colonel of the Gardes Lorraines
Major Trait: GOOD NATURE(10)
Other traits:
Complete coward
Disloyal intriguer
Very stupid

#9 Name:M. le Vicomte de Ligniere, Colonel of Bearn
Major Trait: GOOD NATURE(8)
Other traits:
A bit of a flatterer
Loyal intriguer
Somewhat active
Inclined to mercy

#10 Name:Capitaine le Bret of the Legion of Light Infantry
Major Trait: LOVE OF WAR (PATRIOTISM if a woman)(4)
Other traits:
Arrogant and stiff-necked
Touchy about family honor
Very lazy
Very charming
Disloyal intriguer
Great lover

#11 Name:Major Nagy, the Hussards de Turpin
Major Trait: AMBITION(6)
Other traits:
Touchy about family honor
Great lover
Ugly temper
Easily tempted
Thinks ahead most of the time
Resolutely loyal

I think that ought to do for the major cast members.

I may generate more as the need arises, but for now, I suggest that in the next couple of days the first paralel will be opened.

Parenthetically it would seem that almost everyone in the eighteenth century was a great lover. Can we say the same of out own times?

Mise en Scene, Part the Second

The Marquis de Gonsalvo of the Gallispan Army had every reason for satisfaction.

The remnants of the Alzheimer rearguard had at last fled before him and run to the refuge of the small, fortified town he espied on the river. Their last encounter had knocked the Alzheimer fusilier regiment apart and their musketeers had taken grevious damage as well. So far as he knew, apart from whatever third-rate garrison troopers the Alzheimers had in the town (what was it's name again? Schnitzelburg probably, heaven only knew what that was supposed to mean in their barbaric tongue!) that those survivors of the rear-guard would be hard-pressed to man the firtifications.

He anticipated a short seige. Perhaps the govenor of the town would request a parlay after his honour had been satisfied by a brief bombardment?

It would be best if that were the case; he knew the marshall begrudged the time it would take to overpower any obstacle. He would hang back as an army of observation whilst de Gonsalvo conducted the seige operations. A kindly uncle to be sure.

The Marshal, de Gonsalvo and Brunetti, his chief engineer would talk later about what front of the fortress to open seige lines against. He touched his heels to his horses' flanks - he was hungry and wanted to see what Joachim had laid out for lunch at his pavillion. He would invite Uncle along.

Next Post: Dramatis Personae.

Mise en scene*

Generalmajor von Schwerin looked wildly around him; things had gone so badly awry. Who would have thought that the enemy would concentrate his heavy batteries on the Blasthof height and then fell the woods at its’ foot into abatis. His own maneuver to envelop the enemy’s flank was failing, failing.

By God! His own men were faltering in the face of the enemies' guns. Meant to advance thereupon with shouldered muskets, they were now, their ranks shredded first by ball, and now by grape looking back over their own shoulders. The officers and NCOs were having to buffet them forward with their levelled pole arms or with blows of their sticks.

One man slipped through the cordon, then another around it and yet another again. They were starting to pile up in the scrubby woods to the rear, one behind another behind each tree as the trunks were steadily splintered by shot. The blows of the flats of their officers swords did not suffice to shift them and even as he watched, scandalised, he could not at the same time blame them as his own balls shrank up against his belly in unwonted... fear?

No. And as he watched, he saw the colours of the regiment of which he was Colonel-proprieter waver, and that would not stand. He kicked his protesting horse forward to where he could see a Junker sagging to the ground, white-faced to his very lips. He snatched the flag from the boys' nerveless fingers and hoisted it high, the textures of it so rich to his heightened sensibility – the velvet cladding of the staff, the gilt nails that held it in place.

He held the painted silk high, the sun transforming it into a glory of green and blazing white.

“Come on, my Children!” he cried, urging his horse forward.

He was deluged in a dreadful blast of grape and knew no more.



It had been two days since the defeat at Blasthof.

Alzheims army had fallen back, and back. Oberst-lieutenant Kinsky had fought a series of strong, defensive actions allowing the main force of the Army to retire in a semblance or order. Now Kinsky and his men had gained the fortress town of Schellendorf which protected the bridges on the River Schwein. The Army had already passed through and were re-assembling at the encampment at Dunzelwitz. Kinsky and his men knew they had to hang on at Schellendorf whilst the rest of the army got itself in order and brought up fresh troops and more drafts of recruits to try to make good its' losses.

Old Krumpler the Gouvenor had done a good job keeping the defenses in order, and the Garrison battalion was as good as could be expected. His own couple of squadrons of Dragoons and somewhat depleted battalion would let him make a fair defense; he hoped that as the remnants of the Fusilieers drifted in that he might make a fair defense a good one.

From his vantage point in the guerite of Ravelin Kur-Prinzessin, he could see the curve of the Schwein as it made it’s loop to pass through the town and under the Charles Bridge that was it’s main crossing. He knew the enemy would have to attack up the salient formed by the bend of the river here – the nearest fords were miles away and just not practical for effective communications and that this front of the fortification would be where the main blow would fall.

He was sure that the enemy would use his army to throw up a cordon around the town first to stop him from bringing in any more supplies while they waited for their siege train to come up. He wondered how long that might take.

Still, he had a little time yet in which to gather his strength, and he was determined to make the most of it.

*I hope I got my French right..!

Solo *sigh* Seige

It looks to me as though I may have a little time to myself over the Xmas/New Year period, and naturally enough, a young mans’ fancy turns to war-gaming.

I’ve just taken delivery of a half dozen Eureka Pirate ship guns which I intend to press into use with my fortress (they really are a much quicker and more sturdy build than the Hinchcliffe garrison Artillery I own already); I painted the first pair last night and they look pretty good to me.

I have some simple siege rules I want to try out, but as I’ll be playing this one out as a solo game, I am wanting to make things a little less predictable by:

a) assigning the general of the “attacking” side a personality* that I have to keep in mind whilst making my decisions. I think I can use the rules in the Tony Bath book on campaigns to do this. Then again, I could go cheap and easy by doing a “Seinfeld” and no matter my instinctive inclination might be in a situation, do the opposite! And;

b) that old favourite of mine, using chance cards.

I’ll probably use the Charge! Basic rules for fighting our any table-top actions that arise, or perhaps even Featherstone’s “Close Wars” if there is anything I need to play out as a skirmish.

I’ll need to fake up a map, keeping in mind that the terrain had better be suitable for a fortification and I’ll need to decide on Orders of Battle. I think the attacker will need to outnumber the defender on the tabletop by about 2:1, keeping in mind that the rest of his forces are maintaining the circumvallation and contravallation lines “off the table” as it were.

UPDATE: Ahem, a little experimantation leads me to the conclusion that my fortress may be a little small...

I am thinking seriously of increasing the size of the bastions and ravelin qite considerably; perhaps by 50%.

Megalomania? Take a look at how much room the two guns take in the picture of my Ravelin.

*What is your wargaming personality? I think I'm best suited as an infantryman fighting on the defensive.

Fusilieer Regiment 35

This is some of my weeks' work, a few more figures for FR35. I've another 9 on the workbench which is next weeks' labour.

It never ends.

Once I've done these, I intend to make a proper start on my Staddens. Once these are sone, well, I've another unopened bag of Musketeers that I can make a start on - I'll probably use these to round out IR13 and begin another line regiment.

Minis for Swap or Sale

I have the following samples I've bought at odd times available for swap or sale:

RSM Miniatures 7YW Freikorps Lacy - 16 figs (perhaps a few more than that). Don't forget to check out the Template on the "Not By Appointment" Blog - see my links section for the address.

Eagle Miniatures 7YW Prussian Infantry and Cavalry - unknown number of foot foot and 2 mounted figures, reviewed here: http://mavisming.blogspot.com/search?q=Eagle+miniatures There are a few French as well. Drop me a line if interested and I'll sort out just exactly what I do have.

Elite Miniatures 7YW French Infantry - 18 foot figs plus one mounted.

Please email me at bloggerator@gmail.com if you're interested in any of my tawdry wares.

Regimental round-outs

It's strange to say this: for someone who has a minor Everest for a lead mountain, I am running short of certain categories of unpainted figures.

I am out of Croats, there is not a spare dragoon in the house and I have only a bare handfull of French left. Rather than buy anything more just at the moment, I've been painting the remaining French as Gardes Francaises. Once upon a time I had a standard infantry organisation set at five companies of eight figures (each included seven privates and either an Officer or a musician), and a pair of ensigns and a mounted colonel for a regimental staff.

Ah, the days of youth.

Now that I am older and wiser, I find it much more appealing to equip my line regiments with four companies of fifteen figures (three of musketeers, one of Grenadiers, each with twelve privates an officer, an NCO and a Musician) as well as the staff. Thus it has been necessary to go back over my units and increase their numbers somewhat; a slow process, but a rewarding one.

The Gardes Francaises are the current beneficiaries of this scheme. I finished off a little batch of four last night and I will have sufficient time this evening to have a good crack at another five as well as a musketeer for the Austrian Regiment "Arberg".

This latter figure is part of a process of prototyping a new regiment where I paint one or two of each of the major types of figure that a regiment will need just to work out what details I'll need to include on the figure (and which can safely be left out or fudged...) - co-incidentally this leaves me with about a companys' worth of figures and a feeling of getting a little head start on the project.

I think I want to paint more Staddens

Yes, I do. If only all wargames figures were thus clean and elegant and easy to paint. It is not often that you come across a figure that was such a pleasure to paint.

I'll try for a better photo tonight.

*Thinks to himself* You know, if you tossed away the hand-spontoon part, you could put together a nice standard-bearer...

Mucking about with Paintbrush and Camera

This week more than anything else, I'm doing the toy soldier equivalent of doodling and painting little bits of this and that. I'm really enjoying painting a couple of Austrian Grenadiers from some descriptions on a Morier painting or two in the Osprey on Maria Theresa's Infantry for the 1740-48 period. This could be the start of something.

He's also a bit of an homage to Stokes Schwartz's outstanding work on his own 80-figure infantry batallion. Phew!

French Ouvrier. I intend to equip him with a mattock or pick to make the most of the pose. He may even find himself engaged in heaving on a rope or rolling something. The pose seems quite versatile to me. I also like the idea of using him as an infantrymen drafted into assisting with a regiments' batallion guns. The possibilities are quite appealing.

This is my own choice for best wargaming figure ever. He's a lovely little 30mm Stadden Prussian. Can't you just see him urging the men on as they storm the Churchyard at Leuthen?

What's your favourite?

The Week That Was

I spent most of this week painting a half dozen gunners for my artillery arm. They are by RSM, the gun is a bit of a lovely monster by Suren that has been in my collection for a few years now, and looking for a role. I think it just became part of my seige train. Looking at the size of the beast, I'd guess it's an eighteen-pounder - I think if I get another few, that will see me right to be able to set up a heavy battery for some hard pounding as well as a ricochet battery to keep the enemies' heads down!

Looking at the scene being enacted, it seems to me that one of the men is sponging the piece out whilst the others train it on a new target under the beady eye of their officer. I have been painting a test figure as an ouvrier to help the gunners build their battery positions. If he works out well, then there will be more added; I expect fellows like him to be useful in future seiges.

I've finally succumbed to the temptation that began with seeing some of the figures on Jim Purkys' excellent blog. I have gone on a small spending spree on the Tradition website and bought a few command figures which I'll be taking a little time over as I paint in the next few weeks as little rewards for me as I start to gear up again to full painting speed.

Considering that at the moment my Prussian Army is no more than IR 13 (with FR35 in production), a Squadron of Dragoons and some assorted von Kleist Freikorps, it is a little like having Napoleon leading the 33rd Light Infantry but, so be it.

I'm painting Seydlitz next, using the Willie Cuirassier Officer figure. Yummy!

Fort George - Image Miscellany

Salient Place of Arms; an enlargement of the Covered Way, here protected by a traverse. Troops might be assembled here for a sortie against the beseigers or to make a stubborn defense of the Covered Way.

Inside the left-hand bastion. It was such a bitter, windy day I was almost blown off my feet. At the salient point of the bastion, you can make out the little stone sentry box called a guerite.

On the bridge looking toward the rear right of the ravelin. The raised area was the artillery platform that is reached by a long ramp leading from the centre of the "terre pleine" which was the main interior space of the ravelin up to it's salient (or forward) point.

Inside one of the forts' casemates. It was meant to hold 40 soldiers in bomb-proof accomodation. The structure at the rear is a mean little fire-place.

Salient point of a bastion looking into a guerite. Note how the length of the walkway into the guerite illustrates how deep the ramparts of these kinds of fortifications were.

A nice view along the ditch to the sluice gate at the very rear that was to enable the ditch to be flooded. It only worked at high tide! The main gate is on the right, with a bastion standing in the ditch. The ravelin begins at the left of the picture.

A traverse - used to stop shot being fired in enfilade down the covered way. Note the narrow stair set in the counterscarp revetment called a Pas de Souris. It was so narrow as it is to prevent more than one soldier at a time descending into the ditch.

The Bridge at Strudelberg

Following some very kind advice from the Old School Wargamers* on running a participation game, I've been thinking rather on scenario design.

My preliminary thoughts (dreamt up while lying insomniac abed whilst trying to get over my jet-lag!) are these:

One idea I have found really helpful in approaching the scenario is to use Victory Points. I'm working toward the idea that the first side to hit a certain number of VPs wins the game. It seems to be a useful way of allowing me to introduce some tension for the players - a tension between means and goals.

To illustrate, I am thinking that one party, the defender, is going to have one main goal and that is to retreat over a bridge, blow it and sail off happily into the sunset. That's his main goal; if he manages that he wins the game... provided he also picks up a subsidiary goal as well that I need to think about as evilly as I may.

Anyway, to this end he's going to have to hold out against roughly 2:1 odds (that's very roughly) whilst a party of pioneers prepares the bridge for demolition. They'll be successful from move "x" on on either the roll of a value on a d6 or the draw of an event card. The spanner in the works for him may well be that as a random event, the Colonels' daughter Miffy may well decide that it's a lovely day for a trip into the countryside. Naturally Miffy's capture will be a major (say 40-60%) flow of VPs to the attacking side.

Likewise, his position will be open to a flanking movement that might put enemies in a position where they can attack the defenders' pioneers and make the destruction of the bridge difficult/impossible. This will also present the difficulty to the defender of having to detatch a sufficiently large force to defend the pioneers. Perhaps the destruction of part of the pioneers will delay the happy moment when the bridge might be blown.

As to the attackers, I want a tension between having to recklessly attack on the one hand and the knowlege that each figure lost gives the defender VPs. I think this will be created by the knowlege that any move after move "X" could yield the event card that says that "Yes, the bridge is ready for demolition". I like event cards!

Likewise, Miffy is a rich source of VPs, but is the risk of snatching her worth the expenditure of soldiers when a determined attack on the defenders at the bridge might end the game at a stroke?

That's about where I am at the moment.

*You know who you are!

Europe Wrap Up

Oh well, home again. The house is now mostly back in order and the jet-lag is mostly overcome, thanks be to Allah.

So, what were the highlights?

For me there were the museums - The Vienna Military History Museum, The National Army Museum in Chelsea, the Imperial War Museum to name a few. I was fascinated by all that I saw in these places, especially by the Prussian trophies in the Vienna Military History Museum. Seeing Frederick the Great's suit of clothes in the German History Museum nearly knocked me flat on my backside, too.

The downside to these museums is that you are generally not allowed to take photographs of the artefacts, but I got past that in most cases simply by buying the guide-books. I'm still waiting to take delivery of a number of these as I did a very big couple of mail-homes of books when Amy and I were in Hay on Wye, so they are still bobbing homewards via surface mail!

I was very interested in the Neolithic remains (although as to whether they had any wargaming potential...) in the Orkneys; especially Skara Brae on Orkney and the Broch I saw on one of the other islands. Couple this with the Housesteads and Vindolanda sites (and the inevitable purchases of guide-books) and I was pretty happy overall.

Unexpectedly for me though, I found that the museums and "sites" did not hold my interest in the way I thought they would. I'd look at an item, go to myself "Oh, 4oo-year-old armour, how interesting" and then move on. It's strange, but I was really finding that I'd rather read a book! I need to think a bit about this.

I'll put up some photos in the next few days as I get them sorted out.

Logistics Redux

The Logistic Art in the Age of Linear Warfare (as gleaned from "Supplying War" by Martin van Creveld)

Eighteenth Century Warfare was characterised by on sieges.

This was due to a number of factors operating at the time.

Firstly the standing Army; soldiers of the time were expensive to train both monetarily and in terms of time. Whether you won or lost, battle could lose you 20-30% of your troops.

In this era war was conceived of as a primarily political and economic rather than a moral or religious activity, and as such it was aimed at the attainment of concrete and limited objectives.

Unless your enemy's' will do do battle was as your own, then a strike into enemy territory was likely to fall on empty air.

The power of fortified places was very great.

Fortified places could not retreat.

On this point, it was the siege and the problem of feeding a besieging army that led to the development of the magazine system. Recognising that an army had to draw its' supplies from somewhere once it had eaten out the countryside around a fortified place, magazines came to be created near the frontiers of a state. Note that this was the problem that magazines were created to solve – it must be recognised that they could never hope to supply but a fraction of the armys' needs.

This too limited the possible duration of sieges, turning them in effect into races against time whereby the besieged could hope to outlast the ability of the besiegers to survive as they ate up the countryside – the interception and destruction of the 3000 wagons of the Olmutz Convoy compelled Frederick II to raise the Siege of Olmutz.

The armies of the time had grown to such an extent that they could no longer afford to sit still – the countryside could not support them. An army was forced to keep moving so that it could continue to keep eating; no army could ever be fed entirely from base as the quantities required for the transport systems of the time were impossible. Specifically this meant that the quantity of fodder required for the armys' horses was more than the transportation systems of the time could bear. Flour could be managed, and ammunition for the entire campaign was generally carried with the army.

Vienna Army History Museum

I was just wandering around the aforementioned Museum today and what should I see, but a number of trophies taken from the late King of Prussia.

Among them I espied a pair of Grenadier caps as well as no less than five fusilier caps.

Well!

Imagine my surprise when I measured them with my beady eye and noted that the fronts of both caps were almost exactly the same height!

Food for thought for our figure sculptors, do we not think?

Freidrich Augustus in London

Nothing to see here...

Toy Soldiery activities; went to the Fusilieer Museum at the Tower a day or so back. It was OK, but not great; likewise I'll try to get to the Guards Museum, but my expectations are not too high.

There were a good selection of vehicles at the Imperial War Museum, but the bookshop had little to really interest me as it was focussed on 20th Century conflict. The "Monty" exhibition surprised me as there was no real focus on el Alamein or the controversy on operational goals for the European campaign and his eventual sidelining. I did find out that his poor wife died from an infected bug bite, though. I seriously got more from the Airfix Magazine Guide article on "24 Hours at Alamein" and the writeup on the Rapid Fire website on a scenario inspired by the same article!