Dis-track-tion

 It seems that quite a lot of Wargamers also enjoy the delights of toy trains, including your humble author, though I didn't get an electric train set until I was in my forties and have never indulged in building a layout. Every so often I get them out and send them round an oval circuit on the dining room table, or possibly include some of the bits and pieces in a wargame.

Recently I considered buying a station (so that the trains actually had a destination) but thought I might make something first as the space issue for OO scale is quite inhibitive (as indeed is the cost). I am not a talented model-maker, so I based my little station on the Hornby Dublo range (c.1950) that were definitely toys, rather than more recent versions which are models. It's not too bad for a first attempt and has given me ideas on how to make a better version! There are a great number of wonderful videos on YouTube regarding making simple train layouts, so I may yet disappear down that particular rabbit hole...

Hornby Dublo catalogue (Brighton Toy Museum site)

Bit rough and functional but you get the idea

GWR No. 1466 on the through track

The Man behind the Green Door waves at the 4.15 from Paddington

Testing OHW Fantasy Game ideas

 John Y over at the 54mm or Fight! blog kindly shared ideas and mechanics he uses to adapt Neil Thomas's One Hour Wargames (OHW) rules to Fantasy Wargames. I've tried some of them out this morning in a little game using some 10mm figures; here 2 foot, or 1 horseman on a base equates to a unit.

I have included a Hero on each side (Knight on the Human side, Ogre on the Orc/Goblin side) as defined by John and used the Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic that John discusses for Heroes and for flank/rear attacks instead of a bonus, which seemed to work. For this game I gave all units 8SP to start with (this is convenient as I have some small 8 sided dice to track damage). I used d3 instead of d6 for firing and combat. In true OHW style I didn't use a morale check in this game so it was a bloody fight to the finish. The types of unit are a mix of different rule sets from OHW, as John states in his post, but as this is Fantasy that's par for the course!

The Army of men comprised:

A Knight, a company of horsemen, 3 Heavy Infantry units, a unit of archers and a unit of peasants.

The Orc/Goblin Army comprised:

An Ogre, a company of wolf mounted orcs, 2 Orc Heavy Infantry, 1 Orc archer unit and 2 Goblin Light Infantry units.

First encounter

The Orc army is blocking a pass through the hills through which the Army of Men must move. A pitched battle ensues. (Note: a grid square with a tree counts as wooded and has a defence bonus). Things started off well for the Men (apart from the peasants who were pitted against Goblins hiding in a wood).

Orcs attempt to out flank the Army of Men

The Orc Army began to fight back, and as so much depends on which side has initiative, a run of good luck meant that the Orcs could equal the early damage done by the Men.

Hero v Anti-Hero

Both sides lost their Heroes but fought on desperately.

The last remaining company of Orcs fought to the finish in true Fantasy style.

Two units of men were all that left the field

The mechanics of John's that I've tried in this game worked well and I hope to try out some more in another game in the future.

Another OHW posting

 OHW Scenario 2 has been posted over at my Battling through OHW blog. It features another pitched battle in Hyboria.

Inevitable

 I feel that, since reading the books pictured below, it has been an inevitability that I'd one day make an 18th Century ImagiNation Army. Having said this, it's taken a few attempts to get this far. Youthful exuberance led to attempts at 24 (or larger) figure units in plastic being planned; far too big for me to ever get painted. Later I wanted to do the whole thing "properly" with Spencer Smiths', but these proved too expensive for my modest means. The publication of The Portable Eighteenth Century Horse & Musket Wargame Rules in The Portable Wargame Companion (ed. Bob Cordery) led to a reappraisal of my former ideas, and some rebasing of figures.

Glorious tomes

Finally, I have pulled together one modest force, with plans to expand it of course. I now have to raise an equally sized army for the opposition. I have still to dream up some suitably daft names for each regiment etc.

As I have no game to report today, here is a parade instead.

Army of the Margravate of Moulle

Two regiments (12 figures) of Line Infantry at the back, divide into two battalions (6 figures)

Three battalions of Light Infantry (4 figures each) in the centre wearing fancier uniforms

Two squadrons of cavalry on the flanks

 Two batteries of artillery (the one on the right being manned by Sailors)

At the front, hatless, is the Margrave Edouard de Moulle, sporting his new bluecoat and best fighting wig. He appeared recently, unpainted, in the Box of Shame (could be a play by Voltaire?). To the Margrave's extreme right, the head of the Margravate's Armie de Terre, General Antoine Fond-de-la-Mer.

That's it for this subject for now; hopefully there'll be an update soon, assuming I get a bit of paint daubing done.

This parade was inspired by Neil Patterson's far nicer parades, for example THIS, and brought to you by the colour blue.

Dispatching the 3rd Coalition: Austerlitz with DoNB

 

Snipped from Wiki, with thanks

The next battle to be tackled in the Historical Battles section of Dominion of Napoleon Bonaparte, is Austerlitz (the Battle of the Three Emperors). Great description of the battle at Wikipedia so I won't summarize it.

The Austro Russian force has control of the Pratzen Heights, courtesy of Napoleon's strategic withdrawal. The French have also weakened their Right Flank with some unreliable Column Infantry, hoping to lure the Coalition in...

My version of the great battlefield

Both sides took casualties in the opening turns. It's worth noting that the unreliable Column Infantry are still tussling with the Grenzers on the French Right, and that The French Imperial Guard (Grognards to a man) have ominously moved into centre.

 By lunchtime, the Elite French Cuirassiers have joined battle (and those unreliables are still there).

Later in the day, the Imperial Guard have smashed their way through the defenders on the Heights and can now out flank the remaining Austro Russians (Napoleon loves it when a plan comes together).

End of the day and its au revoir Third Coalition (and yes, those unreliable column infantry lasted the whole day). No embarrassing French loss to report to Josephine, so it's on to Jena, after a quick stop at Pressburg (Bratislava) for a Treaty signing. DoNB provides another fun little game!

A One Hour Wargame Scenario

 Scenario 1 from Neil Thomas's One Hour Wargames was fought this morning - the report can be found here. Having played through them all in order once I'm thinking of doing it all again (possibly, though on a very casual basis, not committing myself to anything!)

Pyramidal Redux & Coalition No.2

 After losing the Battle of the Pyramids in the last blog post, mainly on a technicality (the author not really knowing what he was doing), Napoleon was given a second chance this morning...

Snipped from National Geographic

Battle of the Pyramids (2)

The line up is the same as in the previous post only I've added a couple of palm trees to hopefully make things less abstract.

The French squares once again prove themselves a match for the Elite Mamluk cavalry

This time they are also fighting off the frankly unreliable Mamluk infantry who got the better of them in the first effort.

Order (and sanity) is restored with the historically correct conclusion

Having (finally) gained a foothold in the Middle East, Napoleon returns to France, sets himself up as First Consul and then goes back across the Alps to recapture the Italian provinces he had earlier taken.

Battle of Marengo

The Austrians have a great deal more artillery than the French and get a pre-battle bombardment. They also have a unit of line infantry fortified in the village (Monopoly hotel).

Part way through the battle, the French Elite Cuirassiers enter the fray and start doing all sorts of damage.

The Austrian Artillery is now established in the village and the Grenzers have been slain or chased away, and the Austrian Cavalry get to duel with their French counterparts.

With both sides reduced to half strength the battle is finely balanced

until

Another victory for Napoleon! 

I'm enjoying these games very much and will definitely continue to work my way through the historical battles listed in the rule book. I can quite easily get involved with the action when played with just a simple grid, but, as I've said before, a little bit of scenery definitely adds to the thing, so I'll be using it in future.