Blücher at Fiasco - AAR

Well today was the first try out in public for the Vyazma game. We took it to Fiasco in Leeds and had a great time. The game went well with loads of interest and very kind comments.

The French managed a very orderly retreat towards Vyazma with Davout's troops in particular acting like they were on the parade ground as they marched along the road in almost perfect column. Eugene's and Poniatowski's corps provided excellent cover and only really started to have problems towards dusk. But it was too late for the Russians by then as the majority of the French army had retreated out of their reach.

The Players consider the battle ahead

The advance force of Russians awaits the arrival of Davout's corps

Davout arrives and is immediately charged by Russian cavalry

Soon Davout is marching in orderly columns past Federovskoye covered by Eugene's cavalry and infantry

As Russian reinforcements arrive things start to get interesting

Poniatowski's troops stand firm against the Russian attack

Towards the end of the battle Davout's troops are falling back and Eugene and Poniatowski are holding fast. As dusk arrives they also will have to start falling back.

Blücher Demo Game at Fiasco 2019

We'll be running our Battle of Vyazma Demo Game at Fiasco 2019 this coming Sunday (27th October).

League of Rhordia Warband for Kings of War Vanguard

With COGS starting a new Kings of War:Vanguard campaign based on the new Ice & Iron book I needed to start a new warband. Opening the new book for the first time the first page was for the League of Rhordia warband and that's as far as I needed to go...

I'd wanted to do a Rhordia force for Kings of War, but couldn't really see myself painting so many Halflings. However with Vanguard I don't need anywhere near as many. In fact looking through the list I could see that if I used some Halflings I've had since the early 90s and my existing Wars of the Roses humans I'd cover almost all the options. All I was missing was a few Crossbowmen, Musketeers, a Halfling Sorcerer and an Honour Guard model.

The musketeers and crossbowmen could come from the mercenary units that I'd not painted yet for my Wars of the Roses army. I would use a spare Antidiluvian Miniatures "Gnome Illusionist" that I'd never got around to painting for the Halfling Sorcerer and I'd just not bother with the Honour Guard as already I had plenty!

Anyway with a bit of base repainting as well, it's all ready to go!

Now I'm back on to those pesky French Line Infantry...

A couple of more games of Vyazma

In the last couple of days We've got another couple of games of the Vyazma scenario in.

I took a few photos and thought I'd share them.

Yesterday was a game against Ed. He was playing Russians and was having some terrible luck with his dice rolls. But then just as he was due to go home his luck changed and he managed to break the last unit he needed to win.

Then tonight I played against Gerald. He again took the Russians. Being a club night we didn't really have enough time to get the game completed as it usually takes around 4 1/2 hours. However he was doing very well and I couldn't see any way I was going to win.

The photos show well how the whole of the board was being used in this battle. It's quite a spectacle!

I've got another 4 games booked in over the next 2 weeks! That really makes the effort to make the terrain worthwhile!

Also, we will be bringing this game to Fiasco in Leeds on 27th October 2019. Come along and say hello!

Custom board for The Battle of Vyazma 1812 - First Game

So the board is ready... The troops are complete (almost). Time to try it out...

This afternoon me and my son, Brendan, got to play the scenario I've been working hard on for the last month or so. I'd just finished putting together the last few troops needed.

Brendan decided he'd like to play the Russians. Something about the artillery being good... I'd beaten him up a lot with it in an earlier game.

So anyway, that left me with the French. After a bit of thought he decided to go for the historical Russian tactic and cut off Davout's route to safety. I pulled Eugene's Corps up to help and Poniatowski's to assist. This left the Russian cavalry standing off against Davout's infantry squares trying to screen movement out of the way.

The bulk of Davout's Corps just managed to move out of the way as Platov's Cossacks arrived on the table as Eugene's troops hit the Russian cavalry in the rear. In the nick of time the main Russian force arrived as well!

Davout began a scrabble to avoid taking too much damage from the Cossacks as he retreated, part of Eugene's force pulled back so as to stop another Russian corps cutting them off from the route home a second time.

What resulted was a relatively orderly retreat by the French with few stragglers being left at the mercy of the Cossacks and other Russian troops. A final stand near Vyazma began as the remnants fled.

On the last turn Brendan needed to rout just one more French unit to win, but it wasn't to be.

A close and hard fought game. Certainly a scenario with a lot going on!

I'm going to make a few adjustments: a few more Cossack units and additional Cuirassiers turning up late in the game as Kutusov did send some to assist but they turned up late.

As for the terrain, it looked great, but the static grass shed quite a bit. I'm going to have to seal it a lot more with watered-down PVA...

Eugene's IV Corps marching to Vyazma.

Davout's I Corps arrives near Foederovskoe to find his path
blocked by the Russian Cavalry and supporting troops.

Eugene marches back towards Foederovskoe to assist Davout

Poniatowski's V Corps arrives to help

Davout screens his troops and attempts to escape the trap.
Eugene is marching into the rear of the Russians, a counter-trap!

Cossacks arrive behind Davout. Mayhem!

Davout tries to keep order as his troops run to safety.

The main part of the Russian IV Corps arrives on the scene.

As Davout runs the Russians are held up by a few doughty
Italians from Eugene's IV Corps.

Davout's troops take the long route around the back of the wood.
As they rejoin the main road near Vyazma the Russian IV Corps closes in.

The Russian IV Corps sees it's quarry.

In the last few turns a single Cossack unit attempts to sweep into the rear of the French.
Davout finds a fresh unit of Légère and blocks it.

The last troops to be painted for the battle were the Kalmuks
 in the front two ranks of the Cossack detachment.

Custom board for The Battle of Vyazma 1812 - Part 3

This afternoon I applied the static grass and some other scatter.

I'd covered the roads, rivers and sides with Vallejo Liquid Mask. This seemed to work pretty well and peeled off without too many touch-ups required. I used the War World Scenics static grass applicator with "Spring" and "Farm Field C" 2mm grass mixes. Also some fine turf and clump foliage from Woodland Scenics. All applied with WWS Static Grass Basing Glue and Layering Spray.

I am now waiting for it to dry and considering what to use to seal it all down as I think it will shed a lot at the moment.

Showing the peeling off of the Liquid Mask.

Custom board for The Battle of Vyazma 1812 - Part 2

I've now finished applying the paint to the board.

The base coat was Bitter Chocolate masonry paint. The roads were then painted on with Vallejo Beasty Brown and afterwards the whole thing dry brushed in the same colour. After that further dry-brushes were applied: 50/50 Beasty Brown & Pale Sand; followed by Pale Sand on it's own. The roads got an extra dry brush of Pale Sand to bring them out further. This colour scheme is exactly the same as I use on almost all my miniature bases, so everything should match in well.

The river started with a coat of Vallejo Dark Prussian Blue, highlighted with Medium Blue and then the same with a Light Sea Grey mixed in. I know river's don't tend to look so blue, but I prefer it... I've tried muddy brown and I think it looks too dull for a wargames table in the smaller scales.

The inner edge of the board was then painted with Light Sea Grey.

Next will be the application of static grass. I'll use my War World Scenics Pro Micro Static Grass Applicator. I want to go for a blend of grass, with different shades mixed in, rather like my boards. With those it was done with a layering spray of PVA, but I'm not sure how that is going to work when there are bits of the board I really, really don't want static grass on... I will have to have a think before starting.

Anyway, some photos...