Legionary 2017 – May 13th Exeter Part 4 The Show

Up nice and early having packed up the car the night before, I set off to Legionary 17. The roads were clear so it took me 6 minutes to get to the show. How lucky am I.

In the past I have raved about how good the facilities are at the venue for gamers and traders, well this time I remembered to take a photo.

How many shows can you unload next to your table?

I had booked a 12 x 6 table. I started to lay out the terrain and place the figures.

The Plot.

The game was to be set around August 1814 when both sides were sitting around a table in Ghent brokering a peace deal. The Americans not wishing to have to give up any of their country following a reversal of fortune and the British trying to reinforce their position. To give them a better bargaining chip a force has been dispatched to seize the Washington DC. The scouts tell them the road is open apart from a few militia. The British ever confident set off.

The Americans have been tracking this force and have guessed what the British are up to. So to stop them they rush all available troops to the area. This means that to initially stop the British there are some militia infantry, Cavalry and a gun.

Here you can see the Amera Plastics river.

 

Looking up the table from the British view point

Across the British Lines. In the distance you may just spot some supporting gunboats. These were classed as heavy artillery but took a turn to reload. They could also not move as they were at anchor due to the current.

In the centre you may be able to spot the royal marine rocket team. These were the stars of the game and anybody who was watching when they fired, all commented on the process we use to see where they land!!!!

The game started with the militia units having taken up position behind the fences, just shy of the river. Just on the British side of the river waiting in the woods were 3 units of Indians. In our games Indians can deploy up to halfway across the table if in a tree line otherwise normal deployment rules apply.

The British fired their rocket – they decided to roll 7 sets of dice. A D6 for direction and a D10 for distance. The first two dice rolls looked good then a few wild rolls saw the rocket head towards the British units on the right flank. The final three dice rolls somehow correct the direction and landed the rocket within an inch of the original target.  Must get Nathan to pick next week’s lottery ticket.  The Freed Color units did not like this with one becoming shaken.

Not a great photo but you may just spot the Freed Color militia , the shaken unit has a white counter.

Rocket crew fire again. this time nearly taking out one of their own gunboats!

Heavy Militia gun opens fire

British are in the fields!

The  British advance continued and American reinforcements start to arrive. The American militia had a heavy cannon mounted on the hill by the church and so they started to fire. The first shot hit the advancing 1st Royal Marines.

Both sides traded shots and the militia taking the worst of it started to fall back. American regulars advancing up the left flank enter the woods to chase out the Indians. It takes 4 line and a unit of rifles to finally clear them out.

The remaining militia attempt to hold the ford!

American regulars advance into the woods!

Having advanced across the river they catch the Indians in a crossfire

Royal Marines advancing on the river, in the rear ranks are the 5th west indies regiment with the two Swiss Regiments Du Meuron and De Watteville in the middle (great flags).

View from the British end

View from the American end

The American advance down the left flank was not to continue as they were faced with the Canadian brigade and a rocket aiming at the American Right flank landed in the woods and 4 units had to test morale (Enemy units under flight path of a rocket have to test).

Canadian Brigade including Voltigeurs

Another rocket just misses the advancing British!

7th New York Militia and the Glengarry Lights trading shots when another rockets lands and frightens the horses making them shaken and a sound volley from the Glengarry finish them off.

The British push back the American Left and take the river but the lead units have taken a little too many casualties to pursue the retiring,  not retreating Americans.

A great game was had by all. It was especially great to get such positive feedback from the visitors and especially some new gamers  asking about the figures, rules and terrain.

Figures- Old Glory, Knuckleduster,Foundry,Victrix, Elite, Britannia and Perry.

Buildings –  Large house -Sarissa, small home and Church – Renedra

Trees – Mostly hand made(please see blog) and K&M.

Haystacks – Homemade

Fencing and Walls – Ebay

River – Amera Plastics. I think this is great value product

Hopefully you will get to see some better pictures as the photographer from Wargames Illustrated was on hand to take a few which I hope will be in the magazine soon.

A big thank you to “A Brush Too Far” painting service who helped me out with a number of units towards the end. Thank you Jono and Mary.

RULES – King George Commands and We Obey – see blog.

 

Legionary 2017 – May 13th Exeter Part 3

My demo at the Legionary show is based on the American War of 1812.

Last night I finished another unit for the table.

Native Indians.

Here they are mixed in with a few units I already had.

The figures are Foundry and Old Glory,

 

 

 

A few days rest now although I may attempt to make a few trees over the weekend.

Legionary 2017 – May 13th Exeter Part 2

My demo at the Legionary show is based on the American War of 1812.

Last night I finished another unit for the table.

The Incorporated Militia of Upper Canada.

This unit were always going to be in any army as I was just attracted by the uniform. I have decided to paint them in their early uniform  which they apparently changed  some time in 1814 to a more traditional Red face Blue. The earlier uniform was Green faced Red and trousers in a variety of colours from Grey to Oxford blue.

The only issue I have is that the only flags I could find seem to represent the later uniform, as the regiment colour is blue and not green. That said I cannot find any evidence of a green regimental flag, I just assumed it would or should be.

The figures are Knuckleduster with a few Old Glory and the flags are from Flags of War.

 

Tonight I hope to finish a few Indians!

AWI Campaign Ideas – Part 4 The Terrain Generator

As promised a while back here is a little bit of info on the troop and  terrain generators.

 

Troop Types

AWI Campaign Army selection rules

 Each chit is worth 100pts

Select units and assign them to a chit, each chit is to be numbered. Casualties can be carried from battle to battle.

When a battle happens the CinCs rating  is increased by 1 level for each previous battle he had a major victory in or reduced by one level for each major loss.

 

British

Brigade commander Average 15pt +/-5pt per level increased or decreased.

Cost per SP

Guards C/B/A @12pt

Grenadiers C/A/A @ 13pt

Lights C/B/B @ 12pt includes skirmish ability

Highlanders C/A/B @12pt

Line C/B/B @11pt

Rangers C/B/C @10pt

Lt Dragoons C/B/B @11pt

Loyalist Line C/C/C @9pt

Loyalist Cavalry C/C/C@9pt

Militia B/D/D@8pt

Militia Cavalry C/C/C @9pt

Indians in Open D/C/E in woods D/C/C @ 8pt MOB formation only

Artillery B/E/B @9pt per crewman (Lt=2, Med=3, How=4 and Hvy=4)

 

Hessians (Max 2 Brigades)

Only allowed if reinforcement arrive!

Brigade commander Average 15pt +/-5pt per level increased or decreased.

Grenadiers C/B/C @10pt

Line D/C/D @7pt

Jaegers D/C/D @9pt Skirmishers and rifles

Artillery C/E/C @7pt per crewman (Lt=2, Med=3, How=4 and Hvy=4)

 

Lt Guns 10pts, Med guns 15pts, Howitzer 20 pts or Heavy    25 pts

 

Promotion/Demotion

If British win a major victory (see below), then any unit that engaged the enemy may increase any factor in a unit by 1 level (no factor may be greater than A).

If British receives a major defeat then all unit that did not engage the enemy must drop by 1 level, all units that engaged enemy drop 2 factors by 1 level (no factor may be lower than E).

 

Americans (Min 25% Militia)

Brigade commander Average 15pt +/-5pt per level increased or decreased.

Cost per SP

Continentals C/D/D @7pt

Lights (1778+) B/C/B @12pt includes skirmish ability

Lt Dragoons C/C/C @9pt

State Militia B/C/C @10pt

Riflemen A/D/D @11pt skirmish formation only and rifle armed

Militia B/D/D @8pt +1pt if skirmishers

Militia Cavalry C/C/D @8pt

Artillery C/D/C @8pt per crewman (Lt=2, Med=3, How=4 and Hvy=4)

 

Lt Guns 10pts

Med guns 15pts

Howitzer 20 pts

Heavy    25 pts

 

If Americans win a victory (see below), then any unit that engaged the enemy may increase any factor in a unit by 1 level (no factor may be greater than A).

If Americans win a major victory (see below), then any unit that engaged the enemy may increase any 2 factors in a unit by 1 level (no factor may be greater than A). All other units may increase any one factor by 1 (no factor may be greater than A).

If a side receives a major defeat then all units must drop by a factor by 1 level (no factor may be lower than E).

 

Reinforcement – only when a major victory has been achieved

 

French (Max 2 Brigades)

Brigade commander Average 15pt +/-5pt per level increased or decreased.

Grenadiers C/B/B @11pt

Line C/C/C @9pt

Light C/C/B @11pt includes skirmish ability

Hussars C/B/C @10pt (Max 1 unit)

Artillery C/C/C @9pt (Lt=2, Med=3, How=4 and Hvy=4)

 

Lt Guns 10pts, Med guns 15pts, Howitzer 20 pts or Heavy    25 pts

 

Victory or Major Victory

After a battle unless obvious count the (total of points lost/original points value of army) x100 = % of army lost

E.g.: 175 point army of two brigades (Obviously has lost a battle before so now weak) loses 25 pts, therefore (25/175) x100 = 0.143×100 = 14.3% casualties.

 

Greater loses is the loser.

If loses are twice the winners loses, than a major victory/defeat has occurred.

 

Optional Rules

Defenses – Any army indicated to move may not move and instead build defenses. This allows 100 points of defenses to be built. 2” of light defenses or 1” of heavy defenses=5pt. They are only applicable in major battle not skirmishes and only if the side who built them is the defender. If left unoccupied they are removed from the board.

 

Terrain Generation

To help with this I have built two random terrain generators, one for plain terrain and one for rough terrain.

I do not claim to be  good at Excel so please excuse the simple approach. Please feel free to modify percentage of availability as you see fit.

I play on a 9’x5’ table so I generated eastings of 0-108” and Northings of 0-60”. These are measured from the bottom left corner.

Here is an example of a plain generated table top.

This gives a table like this

Hope you get the idea. If you really don’t like it then hit F9 and it will generate another.

Here the actual files for both Plain and Rough terrain generation.

terrain-generator-awi-plain terrain-generator-awi-rough

 

AWI Campaign Ideas – Part 3 The first battle

I know I said I would talk about the terrain generator but Saturday was here and it was our game day.

Nathan came around early and we set about building his British brigades for the campaign, as his computer had broken.

The Board-game

We then sat down to play the board-game. It was only turn 3 when things started to go against the idea of how the game would play in our heads.  I rolled “snake eyes” which meant that I was unable to move any of my units. This allowed Nathan the chance to catch one of my two state militia based armies and force a major battle. My plan had been to avoid a major battle until I had consolidated my forces. Well we all know about plans and what happens to them! Well it did.

Nathan

Turn 3. Nathan nominates the land unit at the top of the picture near Boston and unfortunately I had “snake eyes”.

With Nathan’s roll of a two in lands straight on my unit.

The Forces

That said this is what campaigns are all about though. Nathan had a strength of approximately 500 points while I not only had inferior troops but only 300pts worth. I am not sure that if we were doing a normal game we would ever have fielded forces like these. Not only did Nathan have better troops but when we got his forces out for the table top he also had a Howitzer and a large artillery piece in the force. These are very powerful on the tabletop, if they hit. This made me feel very intimidated as I had militias and a light field piece.

The Terrain

The terrain generator also threw up a battlefield I would probably never layout normally – a river down one flank a ridge splitting the table, a farm and some woods all added to the next dilemma. Where to set up as the defender?  Do I take the open side to the South and force the British to be crammed up in and around the farm although they would have the ridge to sit that heavy gun on or take the farm with its defensive fencing but allow the British to almost deploy along the whole Southern edge. In the end it was the ridge that sold it two me for two reasons.

1. If I placed my artillery up there it should have a good field of fire
2. The elevation sort of protected my right flank but would also slow down any British advance due to the reduced movement uphill.  This may allow me the time to turn on my heels and get away before melee.

My new plan!

I deployed my stronger brigade on the ridge so they were easier to extradite but this did leave them exposed with no fencing to hide behind.

My weaker brigade occupied the farm and lined the fencing.

I gave orders that all units are to engage the British in at least 3 round of fire but if they closed too quickly to break off and leave the field.

The British set up gave me hope! They concentrated all their forces around the centre except for the lone cavalry unit out on their left flank. This I guessed would be used to  flank the woods and attack me from my right flank. This I thought would take about 5-6 turns depending upon the activation cards ( They would not be able to be activated on the CinC’s card once they were out of sight). This left my left flank over flanking the British right. Should I advance my 2 left flank militias and swing them in on the flanks of the advancing British?

 

Turn 1 Steady advance by the British across the whole line.

Their artillery inflicted a total of 3 hits between them luckily all were saved.

I advanced my rifle on the hill a little closer. They have a 24” range while the British have a 12” range.

My artillery fires and hits a line unit which is unsaved so first blood to the Americans.

Turn 2

British again steal the march with all their units getting activated and the artillery hitting and inflicting 2 hits which I cannot save.

My centre fire and take out one the British Light infantry units.

My left flank jump the fences to advance on the British flank

My artillery fires but hits nothing.

Turn 3

The British get the draw again with the activation cards. Only half of mine get activated.

Their left flank hold back to allow their large gun to fire. This flaw in their deployment does not stop them destroying my riflemen!!!!!!

Their right starts to engage my units behind the fence while their right most unit swings around to face the threat of my two militia unit on their flank (my plan is working)

I open fire against the highlanders and inflict 2, both unsaved. While that would normal be the end of any unit as it would be only 1SP strong so would roll only one die but  due to the large size of this highlander unit (5SPs) they are now the size of a normal unit!

Turn 4 Only the British get activated and move ever closer before the End of turn card is drawn. While I can fire I cannot make any moves. The British are too close for comfort, I cannot allow them to get into melee with mine.

I do manage to inflict another hit on the Highlanders but take another couple of hits from his guns.

Turn 5

End of Turn card drawn immediately.

Both sides fire and I take another 3 hits which convinces me it is time to leave the field.

For this turn I can only respond with firing and hit again the highlanders  as well as a loyalist unit.

 

Turn 6

First bit of luck, I get my army activation card. The plan was to run but………………… if I fired and caused casualties, I believe a number of the British units may fail their morale. If I don’t hit or they don’t fail their morale then when the brigade card are drawn I can extradite them then.

My boys had their eye in as every unit caused a hit. Unfortunately every hit was saved!

The next card out was the End of Turn so I had nothing to fire, having already been activated but the British opened up and caused another hit wiping out a state militia unit in my centre leaving a gap in my line.

Turn 7

The first cards out were all American so I managed to start the extraction process although one unit did get caught up on the fencing so were shot in the back by the British.

Their cavalry had just started to appear around the back of the woods so definitely time to go.

End of Turn card frustrated the British and allowed me to slip away, bruised and battered but happy that a good fight had been put up.

Outcome

The British lost 105 pts of infantry and the American 112 points.  A draw on points as neither side inflicted more than 10% than received,  but as the British held the ground a minor victory was awarded to them.

As it was a minor victory it did not amend any of the units rating, a major victory or loss is required to do this for the British.

We rolled to see was reinforcements were available to bring the units back up to strength and called it a day.

We both agreed that the system had worked well and gave us a really enjoyable game with pressures that we would not normally feel in a standard table top game.

AWI Campaign Ideas – Part 2

Since the last post I have been very busy but have still managed to add a bit more to the campaign idea.

We have agreed that the campaign will:

• Play the boardgame “Skirmish” as normal until there is either a major battle or a naval battle. This is when both forces end their move in the same area.
• Transfer this to the table top –  Each counter (Land or ship) =100pts
• Before the campaign starts each counter is numbered and a force representing it is picked (see below).
• After the battle forces are reviewed and consolidated with surplus counters being removed.
• Each unit is to be tracked and their ratings can be modified depending on things such as: winning/losing/ engaged enemy.
• The boardgame  has a watermark effect which shows hills, very subtle but this will be used to determine if the tabletop game (Land) will be set up as plain or hilly.
• I have also used an Excel sheet to generate the terrain layout.

Here is the initial layout with a few of the counters numbered

Here is an example of what the counters represent.

Army Lists

Random Brigade

If anyone would like the spreadsheets then here they are.

awi-american-brigades awi-british-brigades

When the battle is to be played I transfer the units to their tabletop organisation.

This allows me to copy the cells from the bottom depending upon the units in the brigades and paste into their tabletop structure above. One of the Brigadiers becomes the CiinC. This can then be printed and used to track units through the game.

Here is the original excel sheets for both the British and Americans

dummy-record-sheet

I have also been painting a few units ready for our first game

A heavy gun and crew from Foundry

Militia

Militia

Militia Brigade

Lee’s Legion in Skirmish formation

State Militia

Riflemen

The Grand battery. L to R Light,Medium,Light,Howitzer and Heavy

Howitzer

Medium with Light to the left

Light

The British view hopefully

Hope this is of some interest. Next blog I will cover the terrain generator.