Comparison of Terrain Feature representation in CoC Mini-Campaigns

Comparison of Terrain Feature representation in CoC Mini-Campaigns

REPRESENTING SNOW DRIFTS AND SAND DUNES IN CHAIN OF COMMAND

Mitch Abrahms, a regular Chain of Command (CoC) opponent, came up with a great way to represent snow drifts and sand dunes on the table top for CoC. I prevailed on him to write it up for me so I could present it here and on the CoC blog.

Playing a game of Chain of Command on the Russian Front presents a full gamut of gaming experiences.  In models there are the Russians and Germans but also a host of German allies.  In armored vehicles there is a choice of Early War AFVs with little armor, there are Russian heavies and everything in between.  Various infantry formations are represented, from conscript hard pressed soldiers to elite and guard formations on both sides.

Playing in 15mm allows the game to give a perfect blend of soldiers in the field to space on the table.  The WOW factor of 25/28mm is lessened but distance is enhanced.  To me that is an equal trade-off.  That is the great thing about our hobby.  There is something for everyone.

From the rolling steppes of the Ukraine to the cities of Rostov and Stalingrad, the Russian Front allows gamers the ability to recreate those situations which allow the historical books to come to life and perhaps give some additional understanding of the challenges and concerns the real 

combatants had to overcome.  To do that the game master not only needs the forces (our soldiers and vehicles) but also model the terrain which is essential in giving the full experience some amount of justice.

When I first started playing in “Russia” I gathered together the normal things one would need.  First was a ground-cloth – initially I used what I had and used a green one.  But the experience was lacking for the players.  They felt that if it was Russia, it had to be white so I invested in a white ground-cloth.  Next were roads.  I made the poor, dirt roads with water frozen on them.  After all, it was winter (look outside – there’s snow [a white ground-cloth].  Everyone knows that Mother Russia is so expansive that the road network is poor and in mud they freeze solid. 

I bought buildings which were transformed into a small village.  Add those together and dozens of configurations can be made.  Next I made winter trees and followed this up with two different types of broken ground.  I had objectives to take and the pristine snow now had broken ground along the pathway allowing attackers a realistic means of reaching the objectives. 

The big failing was vehicles.  With the ground so flat and vehicles able to be fired at over broken ground, fields, and the “snow”, there appeared to be something missing.  I had tried hills but they always gave the same result; they were too large and too consuming.  The focal point always shifted to the hills.  Additionally, this wasn’t realistic.  There were no hills where this fighting had taken place historically.  Perhaps folds in the terrain but no overpowering hills.  What would give me the type of table I wanted and still give players choices on routes of movement. Looking for a long time at the table it seemed to hit on me that what was missing was snow drifts.

My first snow drifts were made out of Blue Foam. Small pieces which a tank could be placed next to in order to appear hull defilade.   Looked fine – played poorly.  Too many questions popped up about what could and could not be fired at or fired into.  After a couple of weeks of trying different ideas I settled on the following and it appears to work fine.  There is a piece of Blue Foam Board sculptured into different shapes but all approximating what a snow drift would look like.  Under that, with the same shape as the Blue Foam (which btw is painted white) is white construction paper.  Under that, and larger still, by a lot, is black construction paper.  So, it is a three part structure:  Blue or Pink Foam, White Construction Paper and then Black Construction Paper. 

Here are the rules.  If you are on the Black and fire goes through the Blue Foam you cannot be seen as you are hidden by the snow drift.  As in most miniature rules, if you cannot be fired on, you cannot fire at a unit also across the Blue Foam.  If you are on any part of the White Construction paper, you are in a firing position and the enemy can also fire at those troops.  Finally, any forces on the drift itself can be fired on and they can fire (as firing is reciprocal). 

A player can state his soldiers are on the white construction paper as sometimes the base hits both the white and black portions.  When on the white portion they get a minus one for defense.  If any soldiers go over the snow drift itself they move at a rate of broken ground and if vehicles go in they must take a bog check.  Finally, fire against soldiers on the white construction paper MUST go through the Blue Foam in order to get the benefit of terrain.  If the enemy fires from the side and around the drift, there is no terrain benefit.

I have used these rules during two years of gaming with our local players, at a couple of other local conventions as well as at two Historicons and the snow drift rules have worked out remarkably well.

Dick Bryant has suggested I change the black construction paper borders for clear ones so that they are not opposites (black against white).  I am considering that.  While the eye appeal may be better, it is possible that it is not as apparent where a soldier sits as well as making it more difficult for those vision challenged (like me) or from across the table.  So at this time it is under advisement.  

NOTE: This method would work just as well for Desert settings. – Dick Bryant

Basic Drift

Soldiers Hugging the Drift and Able to Fire Over it

Soldiers Across a Drift with Smoke ScreenAdd caption

THROUGH THE FIELDS

A Chain of Command Game

I have been playing quite a few Chain of Command (CoC) games of late and decided that it was time to report on one. I have been using the maps from some of the scenario books up to now but wanted to try a design of my own and this is the result.

TERRAIN: In this scenario the yellow areas are fields giving light cover. The hedges are NOT hedgerows and provide only light cover but troops further back than 2" from the hedgerow cannot be seen nor fired upon. The grey lines are stone walls and give heavy cover as do the buildings. The white line is a fence giving light cover. 

SCENARIO: This will be the Flank Attack scenario from the CoC rule book. The Germans can set 4 Patrol Markers (PMs) within the red dotted line  and the US starts  6 PMs, 3 set up on each of the two blue dotted lines. The Germans will place 3 Jump Off Points (JOPs) based on the result of the PM movement and a 4th JOP somewhere within the town. The US as attacker gets free PM moves, the number determined by a D6 roll. The US will place a total of 4 JOPs.

OBJECTIVE: The US objective is to force the Germans off table, either through the loss of Force Morale or by the German player opting to retire.

The US got 2 free PM moves and moved up one PM from each stating point. The following PM moves are shown above with the Germans opting NOT to move any PMs during move 3 - 8.

The final JOP placement was as shown below along with German placement of their two minefields:

FORCES: The US force was a basic Rifle Platoon with a Force Rating of 0 and 10 Support Points. The German force was also a basic infantry platoon with a Force Rating of 0 and 5 Support Points. Both forces started with a Force Morale of 9. The forces:

THE GAME: The US started by bringing on two Squads, one on each side of the German position.

The first Us unit arrives from the East

The second US unit arrives from the South

The Germans placed a unit in Building 5 (Note the numbers on the buildings and terrain pieces are to identify which model they represent for ease of matching a map to the table top).

German and US forces exchange fire for a phase then the US brought on their third Squad (on the left) and the Germans bring in their second unit in center woods.

 The two German forces in the building and in the wood are able to bring an effective cross fire against the US Squad in the center. The Jr Ldr with them is kept busy trying to keep the shock down and finally the US has to commit a Sr. Ldr to that force. Just in time, it turns out, as the Jr Ldr. is killed dropping the US Force Morale by 2. The US moves the left hand Squad into the building which can now bring fire into the central woods, though its not very effectively.

The Germans brought their third Squad into building 8  and exchanged fire with the US Squad coming in from the East.  That US Squad threw smoke grenades and started a tactical advance across the field. Meanwhile the attrition of the US Squad in the center continued, 2 wounds to the Sr Ldr causing a loss of another 2 points to the US Force Morale. One more loss and they would loose a command die!

The US had to "go for broke" and brought in their tank from the east and their 4th Squad on the west behind building 1. Why not bring in the tank from the southern road, you ask - well the Germans had a CoC die in hand and the US felt that the Germans had a better chance at ambushing the tank if it came in there. In any case the tank was able to bring 75mm fire on to the German unit in the central wood which now had to endure 3 fires! The German commander retreated that unit to the fields behind his initial position.

Now the US was able to move up to the wall in the west in a position to assault the German position in building 5. The Germans  used their CoC die to pull back the JOP in the field and started a general retreat toward building 5. It was then that the Germans (Dick White) decided that they was in a no-win situation and retired from the field.

.

The dire straights of the US central Squad, Jr. Ldr dead, Sr. Ldr with 2 wounds,
both teams pinned and only  4 shock each away from routing.

The final positions

    

OPERATION COBRA - A CROSSFIRE CAMPAIGN

OPERATION COBRA - A CROSSFIRE CAMPAIGN

This is a "3-Round Campaign as first devised by Steven Thomas http://balagan.info/ for Cross Fire. the campaign system uses a "ladder" to determine the flow of the campaign between table-top battles.

In the multi-player games that I have run using Cross Fire, I have had the problem of the Side Commander trying, to one degree or another, to run the troops of each player under his command. This is no fun for the subordinate and tends to alienate him from the game. It is also an advantage to a commander whose opponent espouses a fairer approach to his subordinates. To eliminate this tendency among some of my players, I provided a detailed introduction to how I wanted to see the interaction between the commanders and the subordinates to progress and required the CICs to generate a detailed Operations Order for each of his subordinates. See Below:

3 ROUND CAMPAIGN-INTRODUCTION

A 3-round campaign or a linked scenario campaign can use any historical (or non-historical, for that matter) action as its basis. The original developer of the system (Steven Thomas -http://balagan.info/) has used the idea for Kursk, Tarnopol, The Spanish Civil War (SCW) and other periods. The present version is modeled for modern conflicts that use Crossfire as the tactical rules but there is no inherent reason why the concept can’t be used, with proper modification, for anything from Ancients through WWI.

I am sticking with the author’s original concept, however, and have chosen the U. S. breakout from the Normandy lodgement in July 1944. There are plenty of choices from the breakout that had some 120,000 U.S. troops in 3 Corps to break through the German lines in what would eventually result in the Falaise pocket and the drive to the Rhine.

The operation was called COBRA and began with an enormous carpet bombing in front of the breakthrough jump off point. Unfortunately some half of the bombs fell on the U.S. positions killing and wounding many hundreds including General McNair who had been the main architect of the mobilization and training of the U.S. Army up to that time.

Though the 30^th Infantry Division was one of the main victims of the Blue-on-Blue and it’s their action that we are going to game, I will ignore the effects of this tragedy for the sake of simplification.

Page 4 shows the sequence of scenario-events that make up the campaign. It should be self explanatory. ED NOTE: This refers to the "ladder" Shown above.

The Germans have TWO forces, a force to use when on the Defensive (217 points) and one when on the Offensive (259 points). The American has one force (265 points) which is used in all scenarios as they are on the Offensive.

The U.S. has some air assets, while the Germans have some AA gun assets.

The First game is an American attack vs. a German PREPARED DEFENSE.  The Germans receive 21 points of Defense construction in addition to their regular force.  This is the breakout of COBRA toward St. Gilles the next day after the fatal bombing preparation.

Subsequent games may require the Defender to mount a HASTY DEFENSE.  Such a scenario requires that the Defender keep 1/3 (1 complete Company +) off table as a reserve. They come in on the Defender’s Table edge on any Defender’s initiative on a D6 Roll of 5+.  This will be a scenario representing the historical battle at Troisgots.

Finally there may be the need of a  MEETING ENGAGEMENT.  In this both sides advance onto the table and essentially blunder into each other. The battle of Mortain – Hill 314.

Depending on who wins each scenario, there may be additional scenarios that lend themselves to the situation generated by the game "ladder".

Each scenario will detail the victory conditions for that particular scenario.

ALL the games will have the same players on a side and the same CIC for the duration of the campaign. This is to insure a healthy competition to win the campaign.

In playing the games, you must think of what you are going to do at all times so that you can act immediately once your side gets the initiative. Make all your moves in a direct and straight forward manner

ALL MOVES WILL FIRST BE MADE USING YOUR FINGER TO INDICATE THE PATH AND YOU CAN NEVER TAKE IT BACK BECAUSE THERE AN ENEMY  STAND THAT CAUGHT YOU IN THE OPEN!  NO ASKING IF SOMEONE CAN SEE YOU – You have to decide that yourself based on your understanding of the situation and on what has transpired before*.

THE MOVE/OR FIRE MUST BE DECLARED AS GROUP OR INDIVIDUAL BEFORE THE MOVE OR IT WILL NOT BE ALLOWED AND YOUR SIDE LOSES INITIATIVE!*

NO ONE CAN TELL ANYONE ON HIS SIDE HOW TO MOVE OR HOW TO SHOOT – WE HAVE PLAYED THIS ENOUGH SO EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW THE BASICS. BREACH OF THIS WILL COST THE SIDE ITS INITIATIVE.  The talk needed to move the initiative among the players of a side will not be penalized as long as it is in the gist of " I could use smoke in front of that bunker" "Please support my advance from this wood to that wood" etc., No "Use your HMG in that wood to fire on that enemy stand there!"*. 

The side commander will pass along the side’s initiative to each of his subordinates as he sees fit. DO NOT TELL  YOUR SUBORDINATES WHAT TO DO WITH THAT INITIATIVE. The operations order (see below) will tell your subordinates what their mission is. How they accomplish it is ENTIRELY up to them. So in writing the OPOR be sure to take into account your knowledge of your subordinates’ strengths and weaknesses in the game and in tactics. *

The game  REQUIRES, If that is not too strong a word, that the CIC of each side will come up with a written plan and marked maps ( I will provide enlarged maps for those with weakened eye-sight and a list of the acceptable Map Symbols to be used. DO NOT show them where they should place their troops or their defensive items.* It also REQUIRES that each CIC provide a written OPERATIONS ORDER for each of his subordinates with a copy to me.  Without these the game cannot progress. 

INITIATIVE
 Initiative starts with the attacker, whomever that may be. All players on a particular side can move within his Company Sector or they can move one-by-one. When one player on a side loses his iinitiative it goes to another player of the CIC of that side as  directed by the side's CIC. When that player loses his initiative, then all 3 players on the side has lost theirs and the initiative switches sides. No player may have more than one initiative in a row unless gained by his own actions. The CIC may loose his initiative if he doesn't use it before the 3 players on his side loose theirs.

*These address the problems that I have encountered in running games with a side commander and several subordinates.

OPERATION ORDERS simplified for war gaming contain:

1. SITUATION

       a. Enemy forces.

            Possible strengths

            Probable course of action

            Most dangerous course of action

       b. Friendly forces. (Your subordinates force available to complete his mission)

       c. Attachments and detachments. (Attached armor, artillery, etc.)

      d. Position and identity of friendly forces to either flank or rear.

2. MISSION

      a. Who (which, if not all, of his force must be applied to the mission), what (defend, attack,                     support), 
      b. Where (the actual objective(s), When (if there is any delay, etc.).

3. EXECUTION

Intent

a. Concept of operations.

(1) Maneuver

(2) Fires

(3) Reconnaissance and Surveillance

(4) Intelligence

(5) Engineer

(6) Air Defense

AIRCRAFT AND AIR SUPERIORITY IN CROSSFIRE
 We are using the rules devised by Steven Thomas at http://balagan.info/aircraft-and-air-superiority-in-crossfire modified by me. My modifications are that the Typhoon has only 4 Pairs of rockets and 2 hmg.

USING COMPANY SECTORS IN CROSSFIRE

These are dervived from concepts sent me by Arty Conliffe, the author of Cross Fire and from a later posting,  Blagan's "Planned Zones" http://balagan.info/how-to-play-multi-player-crossfire-games#Planned_Zones.

Company Sectors
Historically, all units in WWII used delineated sectors to set up an organizational boundary between companies  and we can use them to allow multi-player games of Cross Fire.  Since we have 3 companies per side in this campaign, there will be 3 sectors allowing the entire game to be played as if there were 3 separate games, but tied together.

Company Sector Assignments
Company  Sector assignment is part of each side's battle plan. The Side Commander, Battalion Commander in this campaign, assigns each of his Company commanders a sector for his operations, his forces, supports and mission by the use of the Operations Order, described above. The sectors are drawn on the map and should use features that are readily identifiable on the table to delineate them. Sectors may not overlap other friendly sectors. 

Sector Fire
Troops in one sector may fire into another sector to support, but since their main objective is in there own sector, most of their fire will be in their sector.

Movement Between Sectors
There are only 2 times that a Squad may move out of its own sector. One is to perform a Close Combat  after which it must either remain stationary, only pivoting in place, or to return to its own sector. The other is if a "defending Line" was a part of the sector. In this case the unit may "counter attack across the defending line for a Close Combat as above.

Forward Observers
They must stay in the sector to which they have been assigned but may observe targets outside their sector.

Reserve Units
Reserves may be kept by the Btn. Commander(Side Commander) or a local reserve may be kept off board as a Local Reserve by each Company Commander. The Local Reserve is part of the company and can move in its Sector when ever desired. The Btn. Reserve  can be assigned to any sector by the Btn CO when ever and wherever he desires. It comes under the purview of the Company Commander and can thus move within his assigned sector.

BOTH SIDES RECEIVED THIS BRIEFING:

3-GAME CAMPAIGN

OPERATION COBRA – THE NORMANDY BREAKOUT

FIRST GAME – THE BATTLE FOR SAINT GILLES

The first game is an American attack against a German PREPARED DEFENSE.

 The US has a PRE-PLANNED BOMBARDMENT as per the advanced rules of CROSS FIRE. They have a number of Fire Missions (FM) BEFORE the game they have selected terrain features (hills, woods, fields, buildings, Bunkers, hedges, etc. that they suspect may hide German units.

1 D6 is rolled for each FM:

A “5” Suppresses a Squad, A “6” Kills a Squad; If in a building or a Bunker, a “6” is required to Suppress.

Two successive Suppresses Kills a Squad.  The Owning player determines which squads are hit but cannot spread hits around multiple stands in one area.  Any successive attacks are against the same squad until killed.

 The Germans use the “Defensive Army” for this scenario.

 The Germans have 21 additional points for mine fields, bunkers, wire entanglements, and emplacements. See your Army sheet for point cost of various emplacements.

The Germans place first, NOT HIDDEN, AFTER the PRE-PLANNED BOMBARDMENT. The US places SECOND, also NOT HIDDEN.

OBJECTIVE: There are 6 objectives, 1 Minor (a) and 5 Major (A,B,C,D and E). (See Map). The attacker, before the game,  may secretly elevate ONE of the major objectives to VITAL.

Objective values:

Minor:   2 VP

Major:   4 VP

Vital:      8 VP

1 VP for ea. German sqd, Hvy Wpn, CC or BC  killed at game end

2 VP for ea. German AFV destroyed at game end

-1 VP for ea. US sqd, Hvy Wpn, CC or BC  killed at game end

-2 VP for ea. US AFV/Aircraft destroyed at game end

  

We will not carry casualties from one game to another. Rather some of your forces( the number determined by casualty percentage) will downgrade to GREEN as the casualties are being replaced by less well-trained personnel.

. 

THE FORCES AVAILABLE 

US ATTACK  FORCE - 265 POINTS
Leg Btn. (Regular)
Btn HQ
1 BC (+1)		6.00
1 SMG		2.50
Btn Hvy Wps
2 HMG		12.00
1 81mm W/12FM		6.00
1 57mm AT Gun w/truck		3.00
3 Infantry Companies EA. W/		141.00
1 CC(+0)*		4.00
Coy Hvy Wps
1 60mm W/12 FM
1 HMG
3 Rifle Platoons ea. w/
1 PC(+1)
3 rifle Sqds
Equip 1 Sqd in ea Company with Bazooka		6.00
* CC of A company +2, others +0
Engineer Assault Platoon (-)
1 PC(+2)		2.00
3 Eng. Sqds		10.50
Assault Bonus pts.		4.00
2 75mm  Howitzers W/12FM		12.00
5 Sherman/76mm		45.00
1 Aircraft Support		20.00
total		265.50

ELEMENTS OF THE PANZER LEHR DIV.  DEFENSE FORCE - 217 POINTS
Leg Btn. (Regular)
Btn HQ 1st Btn, 902nd Rgt, 130th Pz Lehr Division*
BC (+2)		6.00
3 SMG + PC(+0)		7.50
1 Sniper		1.00
3 Infantry Companies EA. W/
1 CC(+2)		180.00
Coy Hvy Wps
1 HMG
1 120mm W/10FM
1 81mm W/12FM
3 Rifle Platoons ea. w/
1 PC(+1)*
2 rifle Sqds
1  sqd w/Panzerschreck(early)
Equip 1 Platoon in ea Company with Panzerschreck(early)		22.50
* 1ST Platoon PC =+2, others = +1
If in prepared defense add 21 fortification points:  4 sqd bunker = 4.5 pts; 3 sqd bunker = 3.5 pts;  2 sqd bunker = 2.5 pts; 1 sqd bunker = 1.5 pts. Mines ( 4" long or 1 feature) = 2pts; wire (4" long) = 0.5 pts.
* Figure stands may be identified with different unit designations

Boundary Lines as selected by both sides

THE BATTLE

The Battle for  Ste Giles
NOTE: The 75mm Observer shown in the US center is in error, there was none and I am too lazy to change the map!

The US had a pre-planned bombardment of 18 rounds ( see Optional Rules in Cross Fire) and it was somewhat effective costing the Germans on the US right several squads and the Germans on the US left the FO for their 81mm mortar. This was followed by an air strike that was ineffective except for pinning a couple of squads.

B Company (US Right0 advanced under heavy fire, their 2nd Platoon becoming pinned down in the wood just at the German set on line. B's 3rd platoon managed to get into the house to the left of the 2nd platoon but soon had a sqd suppressed and the others  behind  the house with no place to go.  The 1st Platoon was initially held in reserve. The German Cpt. Seamens' deft use of mine fields and barbed wire stopped the US cold in their attempt to reach the objectives A and D to their front. 

The Us position on the Right. B/2 is pinned in the wood and B/3 is in the house but suppressed.

That Suppress moved the initiative to the US Left where Rick Bryant pushed quickly into the wood and fields near the German set-on line then passed the initiative to Dick Bryant in the center. Dick moved up to the wall to his front and into the woods on his left Sector line to set up the 75 to command the road. Fire from the German 2/10 Platoon in the field to the front of the US advance suppressed an inf. sqd. in the wood and the initiative passed to the Germans.

Rick Bryant moves up on the US Left.

Dick Bryant's US Central position. Note his suppressed infantry in the wood. But he got his own back by suppressing a German stand in the field to the front.

The Germans attacked on their Right, but managed to loose most of the platoon in the orchard. In the center the Germans and US exchanged fire with Dick Bryant getting the worst of it, loosing his HMG and most of the platoon in the wood. Well directed mortar fire from the German Right under Mitch Abrams added injury to the insult! Dick was expending most of his smoke rounds to protect the advance of Ricky's forces on the left.

Another sweep of US air power netted no results except for a couple of pinned stands. Dick White was expending a lot of smoke trying to get his platoons unpinned and unsuppressed. He sent in an engineer squad to deal with the mines, but it was killed outright giving the initiative to Dick Bryant.

US air arrives for its 2nd sweep pinning a stand of Germans

Dick Provided more smoke cover to his left and charged the German unit with the suppressed sqd in the center. In spite of the suppressed stand, Jack Breen's unit won the melee and and the initiative passed to Rick on the left. Rick pushed A company's 2nd Platoon into the center wood driving out the Germans. He then brought one of the tanks assigned to him by the Btn Commander, Dick White. It promptly found a mine field and brewed up, Initiative to the Germans!

The Germans essentially held their positions, trying to cause as many casualties as possible among the Americans. In this they were successful but some attempts at moving and and unpinning eventually lost them the initiative and it was back to the US. The Btn CO, in charge of the Company on the US Right attempted to force an opening in the enemy to his front with one of his tank reserves and promptly lost it to Panzershreck fire. In the center Dick Bryant moved his reserve Platoon up to the wall and  decimated the German platoon to his front with rifle fire until  he lost his initiative.
The US Btn Commander decided that the best chance for a win was on the left and sent the remaining Tanks over to Ricky on the left. He advanced a tank up to the left of the orchard where it was destroyed by a Panzerschreck! Initiative to the Germans.

US looses a third tank! This time to Panzerschrek fire

The Germans used their initiative in trying to get some help to their right but lost the initiative in doing so. The US opened up with a third pass of air power, but had the Aircraft shot down!

US Loses its air cover

The Germans, on the left had lost two platoons but were still holding out with a platoon and a HMG. The US Force there was essentially out of smoke and was hesitant to move across the no-man's land between their position and the objectives.

A few more turns were played but the US  conceded as they felt that they didn't have the strength to take enough of the objectives to make up for their lost  victory points. They had lost 3 tanks, 1 Aircraft and  7 stands for a total of 24 points. The Germans lost 11 stands for a total of 11 points.

As this was a German win, the next battle will also be an American attack into a prepared German Defense. Reinforcements for both sides have arrived, but are mostly Green, Will the US find the right formula to win the next battle, Stay tuned......

A Franco-Prussian Wargame

A FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WARGAME

CHASSEPOT AND NEEDLEGUN

Chassepot and Needlegun is a "old style" miniatures wargame written by Larry Brom in the 1980s. I have always enjoyed the "feel" of the game and have played it for years. The members of Kingston Irregulars, being of a newer generation of wargamers don't quite see the same appeal that I do. Having borrowed Bob Beatties's 15mm figures on extended loan, I finally convinced them to try another outing of the rules. Of course being the only member who knows them and has had more than 1 or 2 games with them, I ended up designing the scenario and umpiring the game -so I still didn't get to play. I might get one more in before returning the figures to Bob at this Historicon!

As most of the club had little or no experience with the rules, I wrote the scenario and placed both armies on the board at start.

The Prussian set on is the red line, the French set on is the blue.

The scenario is entitled "On The Road To Paris". Each side was given a scenario description as follows: (Someday I am going to figure out how to hold the tab positions when I copy from Word for Windows to the Blog!!).

THE ROAD TO PARIS

FRENCH ARMY

You have been tasked with holding the crossroads at Maison-Boutain. The command knows that your force is very much depleted and the Boche are very strong. We are sending you what help we can - the Garde is en-route. But their march is a long one and you must delay for the life of France! Note that The Guard Mobile and the Algerians are green troops at best (Listed as “other” in the rules)

Your force:                                                                                        # Stands

General Commanding   (Major General)  (Jack Breen)                                            2                           

GUARDS BDE

Commander (Bd. General)   (Steve Myers)                                                                   1

               1st Guards

                              Commander ( Col.)                                                                               1

                              1^st  Grenadier Btn                                                                               6                                            

                              2^nd  Grenadier  Btn                                                                            6                                            

                1^st Chasseurs

                              Commander  ( Col.)                                                                           1

                              1st Btn                                                                                                6

                              2nd Btn                                                                                               6

2^nd BRIGADE

Bde Commander  (Bd.  General)  (Jack Breen)                                                        1

               1^st Inf Rgt

                              Rgt Commander  (Col.)                                                                   1

                              1^st Inf Btn                                                                                         6

                              2^nd Inf Btn                                                                                        6

                              3^rd Inf Btn                                                                                        6

               2^nd Inf Rgt

                              Rgt Commander   (Col.)                                                                 1                                           

                              7^TH Inf Btn                                                                                      6

                              20^th Inf Btn                                                                                     6

                              1^st Garde Mobile Btn (other)                                                       6

               1 Btry 4# Guns                                                                                             3

 ALGERIAN BDE

Bde Commander   (Bd.  General)  (Dick Messier)                                                1

               Algerian Rgt                                                                                                                              

                              Rgt Commander   (Col.)                                                               1

                              1^st Btn, Algerians  (other)                                                          6

                              2^nd Btn,  Algerians    (other)                                                      6

                2^nd Rgt

                              Rgt Commander   (Col.)                                                               1

                              1^st Btn Zouaves                                                                             6

                              2^nd Btn Zouaves (Francs Tireurs used as zouaves)               6

 3^rd  BRIGADE

Bde Commander (Bd. General)   (Gene Tower)                                                      1

               1^st Rgt

                             Rgt Commander  (Col.)                                                                  1

                             1^st Btn Marines                                                                              6

                             2^nd Btn Marines                                                                             6

                2^nd Rgt

                                Rgt Commander (Col.)                                                               1

                                3rd Btn Marines                                                                         6

               4^th  Btn Marines                                                                                         6

 MITRAILLEUSE Btn

               2 Btry Mitrailleuses                                                                                 6   

TOTAL                                                                                                                    131 STANDS

THE ROAD TO PARIS

PRUSSIAN ARMY

The French are on the run. Enemy forces to your front are very weak, though reports of troop movements to their rear are coming in with every messenger. Push through with all speed take the crossroad and send the French reeling back before they can muster any more strength.

Your force:                                                                                                                # Stands

General Commanding    (Major General) (Dick White)                                         2                           

GUARDS BDE

Commander ( Bd. General)   (Rick Bryant)                                                              1

               1st Guards

                              Commander   (Col.)                                                                          1

                              1^st Prussian Gd Grenadier Btn                                                     6                                                                                                          2nd Prussian Gd Grenadier Btn                                                    6

               1^st Jaegers

                              Commander   (Col.)                                                                          1

                              Prussian Jaeger Btn                                                                       6                                                                                                       Gd Shutzen Btn (Jaeger)                                                                   6

               6# Krupp Battery                                                                                            3

 1^ST BDE

Bde Commander  (Bd. General)  (Dick White)                                                        1

               Prussian Rgt

                              Rgt Commander  (Col.)                                                                   1

                              1^st Btn, 29^th Prussians                                                                  6

                              1^st Btn, Colburg                                                                               6

                              1^st Btn, Hesse Damstadt                                                                 6

                Saxon Rgt

                              Rgt Commander (Col.)                                                                    1                                                                                                          1^st Btn,Saxon 4^th                                                                            6

                              2^nd Btn, Saxon 4^th                                                                           6

                               1^st Btn Saxons                                                                                 6

                              2^nd Btn Saxons                                                                                6

               6# Krupp Battery                                                                                            3

WURTEMBURG BDE                                                                                   

Bde Commander (Bd. General) (Bill Seamens)                                                        1                                                                                             Bavarian Rgt                                                                                                                             

                              Rgt Commander(Col.)                                                                      1

                              1^st Btn, 5^th Bavarians                                                                     6

                              2^nd Btn, 5^th Bavarians                                                                    6

                              2^nd  Btn, Silesian Jaegers                                                             6

               Wurtemburg Rgt

                              Rgt Commander  (Col.)                                                                   1            

                              1^st Btn, 7^th Wurtemburgers                                                        6

                              2nd Btn, 7^th Wurtemburgers                                                       6

                              3rd Btn, 7^th Wurtemburgers                                                        6

                              4^th Btn, 7^th Wurtemburgers                                                      6

               6# Krupp Battery                                                                                          3

                         TOTAL                                                                                        128 STANDS

NOTE: though the two sides seem to be equal in size, The French have 3 Btns of "other troops" with a lower morale which makes each of them about equal to 1/2 a normal Btn. and the French reserve, The Guard arrives late  - they came in on the 3rd turn. which make the French Number of stands about 99 stands vs Prussian 128 for the first several moves of the game.

The Initial Set-up

A schematic map of the original set-up

The French have the Chassepot, a much longer ranged rifle than is the Prussian Needlegun. In game scale it has a 24" range compared to the 16" of the Prussian weapon. The balance is the longer ranged Prussian 6# guns (54") vs the French 4# (40"). The French do have the Mitrailleuse, (Not a machine gun, but more a Volley gun) with a range of 30".
Despite the rifle and Mitrailleuse range advantage and having the mission of "holding the crossroads", the French gave up that initial advantage and advanced into the Boche. See Below:

Both sides advance, the French giving up their range advantage!

Add this to the fact that the Prussian stands can take more punishment than can the French (4 figures/stand vs 3 figures/stand - but equal number of stands to ea. Btn.)and the French were in for a walloping. The Prussians took casualties as well, an equal number of stands, mostly due to one mistake which brought up a Prussian column close enough to the unit in line in front of it to suffer artillery fire passing through the line.  However the casualties are scattered and the Prussians have a lot more figures until French reserves can be brought up.

The Right Flank of the French shows the first signs of problems and its early times yet!

The French advanced left flank. Note the TWO Btn. in rout hiding behind the village.

The French Right flank. One Btn. of  Zouaves has routed to a position beside the wood, hoping to rally. The French guns at the top of the photo (left) have already lost a gun and the Algerians on the bottom left of the photo have managed to move out of command radius!

Can the French pull this out of the fire? Check part 2 below to see.