Field of Battle - Spanish Succession

In my seemingly endless quest for a set of rules for the War of the Spanish Succession that (a) fits my preconceived notions; (b) suit my figure collection; (c) are good for multiple players and (d) are fun; I put on a game at the club using the Field of Battle rules from the Piquet stable.

My primary reason for trying these was I want to try out Vauban's Wars from the same publisher and these were suggested as appropriate for any associated field battles. 

Here are a few photos from the playtest game:

Views on the rules were interesting.  I liked the variability created by the card driven mechanism; however, one of the other players thought it introduced too much randomness.  I suspect we both have different tolerance levels and attitudes to uncertainty.  Let's see the reaction to Vauban's Wars but I would like to get these to the table again.

Sails of Glory

In the vein of catching up on some missed posts, I hadn't posted anything about a large game of Sails of Glory that a friend of mine suggested putting on at the Herts Volunteers club.  Between us we have a decent collection of ships (and mine has grown since) and the game is really easy to pick up.  We didn't include all the optional rules as, I think, all the players were new to the system but we did include the variable wind direction.  Here are some photos of the game:

Battle of San Lorenzo - 8th May 1863

 

After having deluged you in May and June last year with loads of posts on my Mexican Adventure figure collection, I entirely failed to add a post on their first appearance in an actual game!  So apologies for the delay but here it is.

For this first outing I decided to use the Zouave II rules by Bob Jones (the original author of Piquet) which incorporate a rondel mechanism (which is something I have seen in boardgames before but not in miniatures wargame rules).

Having carted almost everything up to the club I realised I had managed to leave my hills at home - and given they are are crucial element of the game some improvisation was needed (hence the slightly unusual shapes!).

Here are the briefs:

French Briefing

Your main forces are currently besieging Puebla but the Juaristas seem determined to relieve the garrison. General l’Hériller saw off the first attempt at San Pablo del Monte on the 6th and the Juaristas have fallen back. General Forey has decided to take the initiative and strike the enemy before they can mount a second attempt at lifting the siege. At one o’clock this morning General Bazaine led a column northwest up the road to Cuatlincingo before striking out across country towards San Lorenzo. He bluffed his way past a Republican outpost but encountering a second decided to neutralise it and then push rapidly across the remaining 2 kilometres to San Lorenzo and the enemy. 

French Objective

Force the Republican forces to withdraw.

French Order of Battle

General de Division Achilles Bazaine (CinC)

1-2/1st Guard Horse Artillery

General de Brigade Louis de Bertier 

3rd Zouaves

51st Regiment de Ligne 

81st Regiment de Ligne 

Tirailleurs Algeriens 

Colonel François Charles du Barail 

1st & 2nd Chasseurs d’Afrique 

12th Chasseurs à Cheval

Mexican Dragoons

Republican Briefing

Your main forces are currently attempting to lift the siege of Puebla. French General l’Hériller saw off the first attempt at San Pablo del Monte on the 6th and your forces have fallen back. General Comonfort has decided to split his force into three Divisions before regrouping in order to mount a second attempt at lifting the siege. Your’s is the first Division under General Echeagaray encamped in and around San Lorenzo. At five o’clock this morning your men report the approach of a French column.

Republican Objective

Force the French forces to withdraw.

Republican Order of Battle

General of Division Don Ignacio Echeagaray (San Lorenzo)

1-3/1 div. Line 

1st & 2nd Artillery 

General of Brigade Frias (Panzacola)

1-2/2 div. Infantry

General of Brigade Basilio Garza (Ocotlàn)

1-3/3 div. Militia 

Colonel Quiroga

3 x Squadron Lancers

2nd Squadron Lancers

3rd Squadron Lancers

And some photos from the game:

Whilst the Mexicans defended valiantly the French assaulted up the hill and took San Lorenzo itself.

The rules were both interesting and fun and will be coming back to the table again.

Their First and Last Patrol

 At our last club meeting I put on a 28mm Vietnam game using FNG from TwoHourWargames (a bit of a version mash up as I prefer elements from the different one).  Two US squads with experienced NCOs leading a bunch of FNGs on their first (and in some cases last!) patrol.  Here are a couple of photos:

Counterattack at Deir el Tarfa

I suddenly realised that I hadn't posted my first game of Rommel at the club.

We tried the sample scenario from the rules (which is also available for download from the Honor website).  The scenario is set in North Africa in the summer of 1942 and represents the attack of 21st Panzer and elements of the Littorio division on elements of the 22nd and 23rd armoured brigades.

Given the overall scale of the engagements Rommel is designed to cover I decided to do this in 3mm using the Oddzial Osmy miniatures available via Magister Militum.

Here are a couple of photos from the game:

With its use of a grid and the "Command Posts" I suspect Rommel isn't going to work for everyone; however, I think they give an interesting and challenging game.  So I will be expanding my collection to do more North Africa scenarios and am looking at the Eastern Front too.

Thunderball?

 A friend has been working on a scuba game based around the Bond movie, Thunderball.  We had a couple of playtest games of it up at the club.  The basic activation is as per the Fistful of Lead family of games but with a bespoke knife fighting card game added on along with a few other tweaks.  Lots of fun, here are a couple of photos of the game in progress and his excellent figures and terrain:

The Relief of Shah Wadi Wadi

I just realised I hadn’t posted anything on the blog regarding the game I put on at the club a few weeks ago.  It was a trial of the Sudan amendments and first scenario for Sharp Practice from the latest Lard Magazine.  Here are a few photos:

Whilst we all had a fun game I must admit I’m not sure the amendments quite deliver what I was hoping and I remain uncertain whether trying to use Sharp Practice for this period (as it’s not really intended to cover this late).  I do have several other sets of rules to try out so expect so see some of those turn up at some point.