ACW Project

Hello Again! I started to do a search on the internet and a few facebook pages looking for recommendations for a suitable set of rules for ACW skirmish.

I was expecting  people to point me in the direction of some old, simple sets of rules but instead had people suggesting 'Rebels and Patriots' and 'Sharp Practice'.

I wanted to avoid any rules which used card or dice activation. I have had some difficult experiences with such rules, such as Muskets & Tomahawks.

After further searching I came across a set of Western Skirmish rules in issues 25, 26, 27, 28, 30 of Miniature Wargames and then came across this:

Totally unexpected this was mentioned to me when around a friends. I had forgotten that Donald Featherstone had written a book on skirmish wargaming. It consists of a set of basic rules with 'extensions' for various periods of military history.

It has the concept that while military technology may have changed the concept of individuals fighting this close to each other has not. It has few morale rules determining that morale-wise if someone was going to run away they would already have done it than get this close!

I feel that some measure of morale is required somewhere because an individual can decide that he is on to a loser and find another appointment elsewhere while also preserving his life. However I do not feel that morale should not overwhelm the game but could decide the actions of some figures under certain circumstances to take some of the certainty out of the game.

Well the next step is to get reading, make some decisions and get it on paper. Constructive suggestions are more than welcome.

Battle of Mengibar 12/07/1808

This game was played at the New Buckenham Historical Wargamers Club. A number of club members have been collecting 28mm Spanish troops for a while now. Recently the club members played Talavera and these are the figures used for that game.

The Battle of Mengibar was a part of the Bailen debacle. The French troops were poor quality but were backed up with some cavalry sent from the rest of the French force.

Here the Spanish troops are advancing across the river to attack the  French lined up on a hill.

One of the cavalry units were these hussars. I believe these are the Hussares Espanoles? I am sure someone will correct me if I am incorrect. In the earlier part of the Peninsular War the Spanish regular forces were very colourful, as you can see here. The rules used were Carnage and Glory, which accounts for the pieces of paper in front of the units as all figures on the table need to be easily identified.

Next up the 7th Numancia Dragoons. I plan to write a tutorial for WSS magazine on painting more difficult colours, such as yellow and white, in the near future.

Here is a few pictures of the same unit. Due to shortage of supplies many troops had no uniforms and units had a mixture of clothing. This situation continued well into the Peninsular War but was especially prevalent at the start.

There was a wide range of units on the table. One club member is building up unit to game the Battle of Medina de Rioseco. 

Further pictures of this game can be found on the New Buckenham Historical Wargamers Facebook page here.

Battle of the Boyne Refight

Hello Again! I recently played a 'Sun King' game around a friends and here are the photographs from that game.

I neglected to get a picture of the initial dispositions but you can see the River Boyne flowing through the middle of the board from top to bottom. On the right are the Protestant forces of Prince William of Orange and the Catholic forces of James VII on the left.

I commanded the Protestant forces and the Boyne was fordable opposite the gabion emplacement and the bridge was the other crossing point at the top of the table.

I was initially wary of the gabion emplacement and after a number of attempts was unable to push them out of their position.

At the bridge the attacking forces were heading for the crossing but they cavalry had to be given priority and sent first as the enemy had sent their cavalry to cover the bridge.

Here the cavalry have crossed the bridge and the infantry are following up. The red labels are the rules method of giving orders to units. They are placed at the start of the move and cover move, move & fire, stand, charge, retire, fire etc.

On the catholic side of the river a line of infantry awaits the outcome of the cavalry battle.

The accompanying artillery with the Protestant forces was only a light gun so had to get close to the enemy but was at the back of the marching column so had to deploy near the river to get within range.

Here part of the cavalry battle continues while further infantry crosses the river.

As the cavalry battle was resolved the Catholic infantry found itself outflanked and the furthest unit stood to defend itself against attack.

Meanwhile on the other side of the table the Protestant forces rebounded, yet again, from the defended ford to the point that they refused to charge further and their losses meant their musketry had become ineffective.

Eventually the ford was taken and the defending gabion emplacement outflanked. It was then I found out the defenders were raw troops!

By now the bridge had also been taken and Prince Williams forces closed in on the remaining Catholic army.

The rules were being discussed and amended while the game progressed and are now ready to be taken to the New Buckenham Historical Wargamers Club in the near future.