Sunday 21 November 2021

Blücher - Lützen 1813

Today at Dales Wargames we played the Battle of Lützen 1813. This was using the Old Meldrum Wargames Scenario with very minor modifications to meet my available terrain and troops.


Initial layout as prepared at home yesterday

The battle sees a small French force defending 4 villages/towns against attacking Prussian and Russian troops. The forces arrive on board at specific times during the day as the battle escalates. Initially the Prussians and Russians have the advantage in numbers but this see-saws between them and the French as each turn progresses.

The key to the battle is for the Allies to push the French out of the 4 urban areas before the French manage to bring up reinforcements.

Initially the Allies push forward into the first and the largest urban area before the French can prepare. The Cavalry are useless in urban areas so move out to the left to put pressure on the French flank.



The French pull their flank back to the objective villages and get ready to repel the attack. The prussians push into the town and are initially repelled. They get a foothold though. The allied cavalry advance.


The first set of Allied reinforcements arrive and the cavalry push past the objectives to try to slow the French reinforcements moving up on each flank. There is bloody fighting over the objectives, but the Allied greater numbers and the poor quality of the French conscripts mean the allies are winning.



The Allies are really making inroads into the urban areas. Meanwhile the French reinforcements have to deal with the screening cavalry. Marmont's corps finds itself stopped in its tracks, but Ney manages to sneak towards the objective area.




By mid-afternoon the Allies have 3 of the objectives. Ney's troops are putting up a fight for the fourth, but the Allied numbers are greater. Marmont's corps is stalled completely by the Allied cavalry and artillery.



Still Ney is holding on, but still the Allies continue to push. Serious French reinforcements will arrive soon and its important the Allies have control before they do.



The French Imperial Guard is spotted in the distance and the Allied cavalry has to pull back. But the allies have just been reinforced by a terrifying amount of Russian artillery. The Guard can't get in to help Ney and the last of his brigades is destroyed. The Allies have all the objectives, they just need to hold them until the end of the game.



Some Italians and Croatians arrive on the Allied left flank, but the Allies have put in a defensive line and they are just too late to be useful.

On the Allied right flank French reinforcements arrive unexpectedly. The allies quickly prepare a defence. It doesn't have to be a strong one as the day is coming to an end.


In the end despite a valiant attempt from some French reinforcements the Allies occupied all four of the objective urban areas at the end of the last turn and so won the game.


It's been a bloody battle, especially for the French. All the lost units are lined up beyond the river on the allied right flank, we gave it the nickname, "The River Styx"



What a great scenario this is! Well done Old Meldrum Wargames. It's good job I have Dales Wargames to get to play at. This scenario took 5 hours to play after we'd set up. There's no way we could play it at COGS.

Right now I'm looking at the next of their 1813 scenarios, Bauzten. This one is an even larger battle.


Thursday 18 November 2021

3D Printed OpenLOCK Tavern complete

I have managed to get some modelling done this summer. Not much, mind you... drones have taken up far too much of my time. 

The main thing I've completed is the OpenLOCK Tavern I started in the Spring. Mainly I got this finished so I could get it stored away and make space for my next project, but yes also so I could use it in an upcoming 7TV Fantasy game I'd like to run soonish. It perhaps would have happened sooner if I'd not gone and caught COVID last week!

Anyway, here are the photos of the Tavern, fully furnished with furniture new and old.



















Whoops... almost 5 months without a post. Sorry!

So what has happened!!

  • Summer re-enactment season...
  • A new hobby, FPV... so not much modelling going on...
  • I was posting gaming my photos direct to Facebook in order to promote COGS...
But have no fear... my wargaming exploits have not stopped... I still play and model and always will do I expect. I just forgot to post anything on here!

So to fill in the gap here's a few photos of games I've run at COGS over the summer. 















I think that's one photo from each game I've put on since my last post. (almost)

Sunday 27 June 2021

Blood and Plunder - Escort - Amphibious

Sorry I've not been posting recently! We had a holiday and then with Covid restrictions being relaxed I've been seeing my family and going in re-enactment events. But finally we got a Sunday afternoon free to get a game of Blood and Plunder in.

The scenario chosen was Escort with the defender looking after a dignitary, whilst the attacker tried to kill her. Both sides had ships in our version of the scenario and played to 230 points.

We both looked beyond our usual selection of forces for this one. Brendan chose to take Pirates with a mix of elite English and French troops lead by a French commander in a Sloop. I chose an English Pirate Hunters force with a few Dutch units and several small Sea Dog units but with the hugely expensive, but well worth it, Henry Morgan in command. My ship being a Bark.

My Pirate Hunters were the defenders with them escorting a beautiful lady to safety either across the water or to the other side of the last. The Pirates came under false colours and I was unable to shoot at them for the first few turns of the game.



The dignitary, I called her Elanor, with Henry is with the Kapers trying to keep out of sight. The English Militia using the corn field as cover.


My Bark waits at the other side of the table.

Flibustiers and Forlorn Hope lie in wait.

The first few turns had my forces moving forward under cover, the bark unable to open fire on the pirate sloop as it flew English colours. Brendan's land forces sneaked around the back of the tavern.




Eventually the sloop replaced its flag with the black pirate flag and opened fire on my Kapers on land. The Bark seeing this immediately returned fire and caused more damage than the sloop did.




I had taken both Light Cannons and Swivel Guns on the main gun-deck of the Bark and this meant that the Kapers were able to shoot and reload both for extra firepower.

I grappled the Bark onto the pier and tied it up. Their sailing done, the Sea Dogs ran onto land to help out as best they could.


Back on the land my other Sea Dogs sneaked into the Tavern through the front and poked their pistols out the back window. They shot 4 of the 8 Forlorn Hope stone dead at point blank range. However the Flibustiers charged into the tavern killing all the Sea Dogs.

The English Militia saw a great chance to finish the Forlorn Hope off and charged in, but failed to kill enough of them, getting stuck in combat as the Flibustiers charged into the melee as well.


Meanwhile the Kapers sneaked through the corn fields. They were unsure about the open ground in front of the tavern that was under the eyes of the gunners on the sloop. They needed a diversion!



The diversion came in the form of the free Long Boat that the scenario allowed to appear from hiding near the centre of the table. This I had loaded with a small Sea Dog unit. I'm pretty sure they're supposed to be there to carry the dignitary to safety, but for my purposes they appeared right next to the Sloop and boarded it!

After a couple of fight actions I had cleared the gun decks, but then the Freebooters opened fire and the Sloop was back in the hands the pirates once more.


However this was just enough time for the Kapers, Henry Morgan and Elanor to dash past the tavern at high speed.

By this time the only land unit left to the Pirates was the Flibustiers and they dashed after their quarry, shooting their muskets in a devastating attack, that put 4 fatigue on the Kapers. However Henry Morgan is a very strong character and he managed to remove all of that and still limp to safety ordering the Sea Dogs from the Bark to get between him and the Flibustiers.


This did not deter the Flibustiers though and they dashed forward again. Shooting 3 of the Kapers in the lead. 


Things were looking bad for Henry, but his will was too strong and he continued to move towards the table edge with the dignitary. The Sea Dogs charged the now worn out Flibustiers in the last moments of the battle, but did not rout them. 



However this was the end of turn 6. The end of the game. Both sides had taken a hammering, but the dignitary was still alive and this meant a victory to the Pirate Hunters!

That was yet another great game. Henry Morgan may well have cost a lot of points, but his extra fortune and other abilities were well worth those points even though this wasn't a sea battle. The 20" command range and 3 command points were extremely useful!