I've been thinking over what activities I would like to go through in 2009.
A few posts back I mentioned my re-kindled interest in the French and Indian War, and specifically the siege of Fort Niagra. This has led me to read BL Dunnigans account of the siege and the repulse of the French relief force at la Belle Famille. It seems to me that the forces involved on both sides were really quite modest. The French Garrison at Fort Niagra was 486 men at most. The British Army beseiging the fort was about 2300 strong.
The French Army of the Ohio that rushed headlong to it's unhappy fate at la Belle Famille consisted 800 European and 500 "Indian" troops, whilst that of the British detatchment that defeated them was less than 500 strong.
Surely then it would not be impossible to examine some orders of battle that would let this campaign be played out at 1:10 or even a 1:5 troop ratio? La Belle Famille especially would be perfectly feasable at the latter ratio.
To that end I hope that 2009 will see me play out a convention game marking the 250th anniversary of la Belle Famille, as well as privately gaming the Siege of Fort Niagra. I intend to undertake the entire campaign with RSM miniatures.
In my next post I will share the Order of Battle information I have assembled so far.
Showing posts with label Siege Game. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Siege Game. Show all posts
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Monday, January 14, 2008
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
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.
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.
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