Sunday Frippery - making stuff

 Very short post to showcase a little Fantasy Fortified Town scenery object. It's somewhere between 3D and 2D (2.5D??) as there's room for figures inside the walls, but the flat town means it doesn't take up too much room. The flat town idea was based on a far better executed version by Peter that features in this post. Mine's a 3 inch square mdf base from Warbases with the "structures" made from 3mm foam board. As a proof of concept, I think it works ok. Hopefully it will be used in planned Hyboria games. That's it; enjoy the sunshine (or whatever the weather's doing where you are.

The Battle of Rolica 1808

 In which Sir Arthur Wellesley lands in Portugal and on the way to Lisbon tilts at Windmills.

Having landed North of Lisbon, the British marched along the Coast, collecting some Portuguese troops along the way. At the village of Rolica they encountered the vastly outnumbered French rearguard. (In the game the points attributed to the superior British make it appear that there are more French who were in fact at a 4:1 disadvantage.) This really ought to be a walk in the park...

 

Trying out the flashy new Budget Wargames backdrop - nice.

In the scenario description provided by Steve Parker in Dominion of Napoleon Bonaparte, the British attack is initially slow; this proved to be the case in the game too. In fact, both sides from the off (pre-battle bombardment) threw some appalling dice. I have to confess that I lost count of the Turn number early on...

Eventually the British Centre (Infantry in column) broke. The Infantry on the British flanks, elite and in defensive posture, were going to prove to be stubborn at the very least, and the Imperial Army started to take casualties.

At this stage it looked like the British were going to push through the French rearguard and be historically correct. Unfortunately, my troublesome dice, a pair of scamps, thought otherwise.

The French win again!!!

We're really down the rabbit hole now.

The Battle of Bailen 1808 with DoNB

 My play through of the Scenarios in Dominion of Napoleon Bonaparte has now reached the Iberian Peninsular, and Napoleon stands undefeated (apart from the hiccup at The Pyramids). How will the French fare in this first battle of the Peninsular War?

 The French are in retreat after storming Cordoba and are hampered by an enormous baggage train of plunder. They find their way blocked by a numerically stronger Spanish Army.

Note: Purple dice are elite, White are unreliable, Black are in defencive position.

The French open the action from the centre and the Spanish are forced to throw in more and more reinforcements.

A column of unreliable French Infantry on their Right are attacked and immediately withdraw, however the Spanish are unable to capitalize on this as their own numbers are dwindling.

The Spanish are forced to commit their final reserves, but to no avail.

An overwhelming victory for the French, reversing the historical result! Next time: The boot maybe on the other foot as Wellington arrives...

Bonus picture to celebrate (or possibly not) the new film of The Odessey that is due for release this month I believe.

A Minifigs Cyclops from their 1970s Sword & Sorcery range and a 10mm Odysseus 

 

End of the Fourth Coalition: Friedland 1807

 

Source: Wikiperdia

After defeating the Russians at Eylau, the French push on in pursuit of their foe. Russian General Bennigsen is informed that Marshal Lanne's corp is isolated and attacks across the River Alle.

The Russians, with their backs to the River Alle, attack hoping to defeat the French before they are reinforced.

After exchanging artillery fire the two sides get stuck in and the Russians are soon in trouble. Their retreat is made disorderly by the river, and the French take advantage of this to inflict huge losses.

Defeat is inevitable and the Russians are forced to come to the table; the Fourth Coalition is over. Next time: Start of the Peninsular War.

Collaborative Campaign Year 19: Part 4

 Today's post (text/photos being the intellectual property of Mark Cordone) sees the conclusion of the fighting in the Northwest for the Year of the Hyena. Mark used the Two Hit variant for Dominion of the Spear that I discussed in the previous post.

Please note: There were more photos provided by Mark than are featured below - for some inexplicable reason I have had a lot of problems downloading them. Hopefully normal service will be resumed in future.

***

The Battle of Lycaeum

Following the battle of Aricia, the leaders of the Tetrapolis met to decide what to do.  Anaxander lobbied hard for an invasion of Lusatia, but in the end, it was decided to take advantage of the destruction of the Picenian fleet and mount an expedition to liberate Therissa.  Cleomenes, Strategos of Cyraeus was chosen to command the army and at the end of the summer they set sail landing on the northern coast of the island on the 16th day of the 9th month of the year of the Hyena.

Cleomenes consolidated his position then marched east and then south to attack the capitol city that gave the island its name.

Gaeius Epidus Marullus was governor of the island and faced a difficult situation.  The landing of the Tetrapolis army had stirred up considerable unrest, and he also knew there would be no chance of a relief force until at least the middle of the next year.  He did have a tough, unbeaten veteran army however, so he decided his best chance of success was to offer battle.  This he did on the last day of the 9th month of the year of the Hyena.

The day dawned cool and bright as the armies deployed on the open plain north of the city. Marullus placed the 4th Legion in the left sector, his archers in the center and the (veteran, disciplined) 3rd Legion to the right.  The equally tough 2nd Legion and his cavalry were in reserve.  All in all he had 20,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry under his command for the battle.

Cleomenes had some 10,000 armored phlangites which he divided into two phalanx's and deployed them on his left and center.  On the right were a further 5,000 spearmen. In reserve he had another 5,000 Marines from his fleet, his 3,000 cavalry and a further corps of (unreliable) peltasts, natives of the island who had joined his army on the march.

The battle opened with an advance on the left, but the phalanx was unable to make any headway and the combat ground on without result for the rest of the day.

In the center the Tetrapolis phalanx also advanced but was met with a deadly hail of arrows and was put to flight.  Cleomenes ordered his marines to fill the gap but was unable to rally his broken phalanx.  The Marines were able to best the archers, but the second Legion moved forward and filled the gap, then cut up and dispersed the Tetrapolis sailors.  As this was happening the 3rd Legion defeated the spearmen in front of them, then shrugged off the hail of javelins launched at the by the peltasts who moved up to hold the line.

Cleomenes committed his last reserve, his cavalry to the center but they were unable to make any impression on the 3rd.  The second quickly put the peltasts to flight then outflanked the horseman in the center.  Together the two legions made short work of the Tetrapolis horseman and the battle was lost.

The pursuit was merciless with some 5,000 Tetrapolis soldiers along with their general taken prisoner.  Of the rest barely 2,000 made it to the fleet and managed to escape.

The crushing victory at Lycaeum went a long way towards mitigating the two defeats earlier in the year, but would the fighting continue next spring?

***

A disaster for the Cyraenian Tetrapolis when it appeared that things were looking up. Thanks to Mark for another splendid report (apologies again for my problems with the photos that are all visible in Outlook btw).

Collaborative Campaign Year 19: Part 3

 Autumn in the Year of the Hyena witnessed a large horde of mounted raiders moving from the steppe lands of the territory known in the "civilised" world as Inconnu. Their purpose unknown, the horde arrived in the small Northern province of Qushia. The local Satrap, Rostam Anoraq, had had a peaceful life up to this point, paying the minimum amount of tax he felt he could get away with, and avoiding being dragged into State politics, wars etc. Having prudently eschewed the demands of the real world for many years, suddenly the real world had turned up on his doorstep in the form of a few thousand, hairy, smelly barbarians on horseback.

Progress of the not so golden horde

The following battles were fought using Dominion of the Spear with a 2 Hit variation for some units, an idea that was kindly sent to me by Mark Cordone (published originally on Facebook?). All of the units of the Horde are mounted, but two have the "ferocious" bonus; this gives them +1 in combat. If these units are hit, they remain in combat but lose their bonus (they are shaken) for the rest of the battle. If hit again they are eliminated in the usual way. I like this variant as it makes special units a little less vulnerable as benefits their status as exceptionable warriors.

Battle 1 - The Oasis of Shapoor

The Horde has arrived at a watering hole and settled down for a week or so, plundering the local flocks and farmsteads for victuals and scaring away the caravan traffic that uses the oasis. The Satrap, fearing a loss of revenue from the caravans not to mention the tedious complaints from his people, orders the Headman at the nearby town of Baqusra to send the town garrison to chase off the invaders.

The Zigurans put up a good fight but are bested and driven off.

Battle 2 - The Battle of Baqusra

Having consumed all the local flocks, the Horde rolls on to the little town of Baqusra. The remaining town garrison, bolstered by some Provincial troops, has had a little time to set up temporary defences (strangely the tax money that has been put aside for the construction of town walls has disappeared).

The Horde's luck runs out at Baqusra, and those lucky enough to avoid the arrows judiciously turn tail and head back to the steppes. On hearing the reports, Satrap Anoraq breathes a sigh of relief and puts his curly toed slippers back up on a nice comfy cushion. 

New Book

 A very recent purchase at a bargain price, Henry Hyde's Wargaming Campaigns, which is currently on offer at Pen & Sword (please note I am not affiliated with either Mr Hyde or his publisher!)

The opposing General came straight over to have a look!

The book looks splendid and I'm looking forward to getting a read of it at the weekend (fingers crossed): No spoilers please.