Nationalist and republican Reinforcements

Several odds and ends to flesh out my SCW CoC collection.

Field Guns, nationalist and Republican Standard Bearers, Tanks, Armoured Cars and Tiznaus

Blucher Eye candy - Battle of Zellerode 1809

Pre-battle Campaign

Scharnhorst

Scharnhorst is a pre-game campaign system which generates even more Fog of War within Blucher. Both players start with an agreed number of points with which they must build their armies. Once the army build is complete, both commanders allocate forces to four Columns which then move on a map eventually reaching the stage where a battle is fought between the opposing armies.

As most of my games are fought solo, I approached a good friend to see if we could work out how to use Scharnhorst to create a battle I could then fight solo without having an ‘all-seeing eye’. We came up with an old school solution – Play By E-Mail, which I have to say worked really well. 

I chose both starting forces (in hindsight I think it would work even better if Nick had done this) and then Nick and I created our columns, informing each other by email and/or text of our moves. Sadly in my eagerness to get the campaign underway I didn’t pick up that moves are alternate by Column until late in the play, however the end result was achieved and a very enjoyable solo game followed.

I certainly think this method would work well ahead a week or so before an actual game night so that no actual game time would be lost.

Positives:

• ·         PBEM is well suited to the Scharnhorst system
• ·         Adds to the FoG of War
• ·         Leaves more time to play the actual battle when done by PBEM

Room for improvement:

• ·         Opponent should decide the army build
• ·         Don’t forget IGo-Ugo by columns!

Nick and I have been gaming together for years so there’s a high level of trust between us. PBEM would need to be moderated by a third party for competition style play.

Background to the Actual Battle

French forces have been massing on the Austrian border for weeks. Incensed at this sabre-rattling the Austrians have mobilised to meet the threat head on.

Determined to gain an upper hand, the Austrian CinC massed reconnaissance units in force under the very able Cavalry Hero Keinmeyer and chose to make his move from West to East across the Northern Germany Campaign Map.

Despite out-scouting the French, the Austrians found themselves brought to battle on less than favourable terms over a very barren battlefield dominated by the town of Zellerode which is flanked on three sides by minor rivers. Furthermore some very clever manoeuvring by the French CinC had brought about another real threat – that of a flanking reinforcement march.

With fewer Campaign Victory Points in hand, the Austrians needed to break the French Army and rout them from the field to win. The French simply needed nightfall to arrive before the Austrians could achieve this to secure their own crushing campaign victory.

Austrian Forces

CinC – Martain

1^st Division (Map grid B4) – Led by Bellegarde (Hero)

Avant Garde Bde, Veteran Infantry Bde, Grenadier Brigade, Cuirassier Bde

2^nd Division (Map grid C4) – Led by Keinmeyer (Cavalry Hero)

Avant Garde Bde, Conscript Infantry Bde, Landwehr Brigade, Hussar Bde

3^rd Division (Reinforcements arriving at Map grid B4)

Avant Garde Bde, Conscript Infantry Bde, Landwehr Brigade*, Cavalry Bde

*Did not make the battle – delayed arriving

4^th Division (Map grid B4)

Veteran Infantry Bde, Grenadier Bde, Cavalry Brigade, Massed Foot Artillery Brigade

Assigned to Reconnaissance:

Keinmayer, III Division Avant Garde and Cavalry Brigade

French Forces

CinC – Bellame

1^st Division (Reinforcements arriving at Map grid D4)

Elite Infantry Bde, Ligne Bde, French Model Allied Infantry Bde, Light Cavalry Bde*

*Did not make the battle – Garrisoned in Zuckerritz

2^nd Division (Map grid B5)

Elite Infantry Bde, Ligne Bde, French Model Allied Infantry Bde, Light Cavalry Bde

3^rd Division – led by Ney (Hero) (Map grid C5)

Ligne Bde x2, Allied Infantry Bde, Heavy Massed artillery Bde

4^th Division (Map grid C5)

French Model Allied Infantry Bde x2, Allied Infantry Bde (garrisoned in Zellerode), Light Cavalry Bde

Assigned to reconnaissance:

2^nd Division Light Cavalry Brigade

The Map and the actual Battlefield

Final positions on the Campaign Map.
Columns 1 and D did not participate in the battle.
Column B and 4 were reinforcing columns.
The actual battlefield is outlined in red with Zellerode in C5

The battlefield of Zellerode

How the battle of Zellerode was won

Having declared the battle the French got to move first. Safe in the knowledge that the only way the Austrians could win the campaign was by breaking the French force before nightfall, Bellame was more than content to sit back and wait for the Austrians to come to him.

Martain, knowing that Bellame knew he could only lose the campaign by being broken set about doing just that. Worryingly for the Austrians there was also the very real threat of a French Reinforcement on their own right flank.

The Austrians would need to be sharp and sought to assault the French left flank whilst feigning towards Zellerode and the French right.......

Initial deployments. French in the foreground.

French right flank

French right flank

Austrian right flank feignting towards Zellerode whilst
 protecting the expected French reinforcement route

Battlefield view from the South 

The Austrian left flank sallys forward

The Austrian left flank marching towards the French right

The Austrian feignt towards Zellerode 'top down'

The French left flank

The French line North of Zellerode. French Heavy Artillery opens fire!

Austrians close on the French centre - the French artillery is causing casualties

The view from the East.
In the far West Austrian Reinforcements enter the fray but are too far away to be identified

The Austrian reinforcements use a reserve move to threaten the French right,
however the Austrians in the middle are finding it tough to get to grips with the French
due to their skirmishing lines proving very effective

Austrian Reserve. The ploughed fields would make like tough for the Austrians

The battle of the french right becomes a pivotal focus. Austrian losses are mounting

The French left flank has lost a unit retired due to losses from the Austrian Artillery but holds firm

At midday the French Reinforcements arrive to the Southwest of Zellerode and immediately
bring the Austrian right flank to bear with the advantage of numbers

The Austrian right flank begins to buckle

Flanked and outnumbered the Austrian right flank wavers

With time against them the Austrian centre mounts a desperate assault against the French lines

Weight of numbers favour the Austrians. Even the presence of Ney does little for french chances

The French centre buckles. Ney Holds the line but numbers will surely tell for the Austrians?

The Austrian right crumbles, Grenadiers being run down by French Light Cavalry. HUSSAH!!

Having despatched the Austrian Right flank, the French Left flank regroups.

Ney's command is pushed back as one unit routs across the river.
The Austrian follow up is almost exhausted. To the North and the French
right flank, the Austrian advance is checked with appalling casualties.

Despite an Austrian breakthrough in the centre, French reserves
press against the exposed Austrian right hoping to roll up a flank

With the Austrian's in disarray, even the Garrison at Zellerode sallys out to join the battle.

Loves Labours (hopefully not lost...!)

I picked up my copy of WARBAND from Pendraken last week and am looking at delving into Fantasy Wargaming on a Budget.

Having never done any fantasy wargaming before it is all a bit bewildering, but a change is as good as a rest as they say, and having been a fan of Pendraken's 10mm ranges I am sure it will be worth it.

2015 looks to be a big year of new things for me as I embark on my Paramedic studies for real, so an unusual diversion from my staple might just break up the monotony (and sheer panic) of reading, research and the very real prospect of being on the dole queue given the very simple pass/fail nature of the Paramedic Pathway.....

Budget and Target Date
I am also going to be doing this on a budget and have set myself a very modest amount of £150 in which to achieve the target of building four new armies by December this year, hence the title of the post.




Mr Clever's Plan
I have several ranges of Pendraken Miniatures which I think can readily proxy for certain elements of my chosen armies. I am already looking at my Saxon, Norman and Medieval ranges as becoming the backbone of a Dragon Men and Barbarian Human army. I've also got lots of Minibits MDF bases and Dice Frames kicking about which I am hoping will save me a few quid here or there.


Which Armies?
Army wise, I am looking at Dragon Men and/or Barbarian Human, Eldritch Vampire, Undead and Taurians. My first decision is do I take on two undead-ish armies, or do I drop either the Eldritch or Undead for Hill Dwarves or Goblins..... the jury is still out at this point.

Cunning Basing Plan
As Slackbladder once said:

All of my Saxons/Normans and Medieval figures are based for FoG/Warmaster and hence I'm not keen on re-basing as I still want to use them for those games.

My plan is to go for 80x40 bases probably using four 40x20 warmaster bases with the new armies so that they can become the base for Warmaster armies.....

Watch this space for progress
Although I expect progress to be slow alongside other wargaming distractions1

SCW Chain of Command in 10mm

SCW CoC cherry popped this morning.

Bando Nacionales facing off against Republican People's Militia with EPR Support.

A 6x3 table felt very big playing the Patrol Scenario, and initial deployment and the subsequent Patrol Phase saw the action take place over less than half the table's width.

The Nationalists got the better of the Patrol phase pushing two of the three Jump Off points back onto the table edge in open terrain. All three Nationalist Jump Offs were in decent cover allowing them to press forward and pin the Republicans into one corner of the table with only light cover available such as hedge-lines and cornfields.

Several phases in and Republicans trapped on the baseline

By the end of the first phase all of the Nacionales were deployed on the table and began making progress towards the republican start line.

In the first four phases only a single Republican Militia section managed to be deployed. The flip side to this lack of expediency was that they were able to rack up no fewer than 11 Chain of Command Points!

Under the Command of a Senior Leader Sargento, the Nacionales in the ruined farmhouse wreaked havoc with the Militia Section trying to forces it's way through the fields. The militia section was severely depleted however a COC dice was used to end the run removing all pin markers which saved the Militia from routing.

Nacionales in the ruined farmhouse

Nacionales in the vineyard - threatening two enemy Jump off markers
This section also forced the second Militia Section to break, leaving
the Jump Off's unprotected

People's Militia, Already depleted from fire from the farmhouse, regroup
for a second attempt to move forward.

The EPR arrive just in time to sweep through the remnants of the
Militia unit (in the background)
Out of shot Nacionales threaten this units position from the left flank.

The Republican Militia on the right flank are forced back by the Nacionales and despite an effort from the Jefe and Army Advisor, rout in disarray to Leave the EPR unsupported.

The game ended shortly after this point when the Republicans rolled four 6's, ending the turn and losing both Militia Units and the Jefe who was attached to the smaller of the two units. To add insult to injury, the random event generated by the four 6's saw a mortar barrage land right on top of route of retreat causing even more Republican Misery!

Bando Nacionale and People's Militia

A few pics of the finished Bando Nacionale and a People's Militia Flag Bearer

Workers Militia and Civil Guard - SCW CoC project

More progress made on my SCW CoC project

Spanish Civil War

A lazy Sunday afternoons work. The Republicans started for my 10mm SCW Chain of Command Project

An EPR Section and a solitary 'Workers' Militia (although I think I may have the colours the wrong way around on his sidecap...)