Bottleneck by the Lake (OHW #24)

Introduction

A brief battle was fought this morning in my on-going ACW "campaign" (in its loosest possible definition). I chose a scenario from One Hour Wargames but used The Portable Wargame rules. In case you don't have the book, Scenario 24 (Bottleneck) pits a small force (in this case the Union Army) against a larger force in a tight space - the original map has a little space to the right of the lake but I removed that option forcing all the action to be along the road. The Lake is of course inaccessable; the Rebels' scouts have also mistakenly determined the woods to be too dense to allow movement. In fact a unit of Federal skirmishers control the woods and is the only force that has access to them. The objective of the Confederate force is to complete the game with no Union troops within one grid square of the road.

Cheeky use of image from Plastic Soldier Review

The Game

Looking for a way to out flank the Federal Army, General Gilder despatches a force along the road that runs to the West of Lake Constance. Scouts report that a smaller force of Union troops is positioned to the North of the Lake. 

Turn 1 - Rebel force arrives from the South (bottom of pic)

Cavalry melee begins (and lasts the whole game!)

Skirmishers open fire from the woods

Rebels approach the main Union force

Disaster! The Union commander is killed and they reach Exhaustion Point 

Despite not being able to make further moves the Union Army holds the Rebel force

The Scenario worked exactly as the name suggests; an initial bottleneck on the road, coupled with some spectacularly bad dice rolls, held up the Confederate advance. Even though the Fereral Army reached Exhaustion Point early on, the Rebs couldn't break their resolve. The Confederate artillery took a few long distance shots but made no impression on the defenders, and it was left to the infantry (that had got past the ambush from the woods) to slug it out. The Greys reached their own Exhaustion Point at Turn 10 ending the game.

On generosity

Quite a number of blogs that I've read have commented on the generosity of fellow wargames' bloggers, and I would like to take this opportunity in joining them and in thanking publicly those who have been generous to me!

Thank you to Mr Sprinks at Wronghammer for sending me some 10mm figures that were surplus to his requirements - I have started painting them and here's the proof!

I hope to continue the 10mm project in 2020

Thank you to John the Wargame Hermit for so generously sending me some Warmaster figures, also for my 10mm project - here's a command unit

I accept full responsibility for the scrappy painting

And thank you to Ross Mac for the box full of 1/72nd ACW figures that arrived today after an epic journey from Canada 

ACW figures come out fighting

Whilst I'm on the subject of thanks, I'd also like to thank Bob Cordery, Ross Mac and Alan Tradgardmastare who have all had such kind words to say about my blog in their posts.
Enough said. Compliments of the Season to all. 

Pitched battle on the new bigger board

I got up especially early today in order to get a game played on my new 12x8 grid board before reporting for cleaning/shopping duty. Rules were The Portable Wargame with Exhaustion Point (EP) set at the standard 30% and activation and initiative by turning playing cards. The game was set to last for 10 turns. It was a bit dark this morning so the pictures are not the best.

Introduction

Having failed in his first attempt at invading the Albionian colony, the King of Uqbalistan sent another army to the border. The force comprised of Regular Army, conscripts and hill/desert tribesmen. 

Albionian Police patrolling the border discover the assembling enemy army

A column of Albionian troops rushed to the border. The force was smaller than that of the invaders but was of higher quality. General Algernon McTavish commanded.

A reporter from The Uqbalii Bugle recorded the battle for posterity.

The tyranny of the blank page

Game

General McTavish placed all his cavalry on his left facing the lower quality tribesmen intending to outflank the enemy. Regular Infantry, Naval brigade and The Guards were in the centre, with the elite Hibernian battalion on the right.

Desert Starling's eye view of the initial disposition 

Uqbalistan Cavalry/camelry charge the centre

Artillery duel - General McTavish encourages the gunners

Albionia's Cavalry in action

The situation after 3 turns

Conclusion of the artillery action

The hilltribes hold the cavalry at bay

The Hibernians take long distance shots at their adversaries 

The tribesmen begin to give ground

Uqbalistan reached EP by turn 7, Albionia on turn 10

A victory for Albionia as the invading army was halted and reduced to below 50% of its' original size. The King of Uqbalistan will be forced to ask for peace terms, though it is rumoured that he has already had talks with the Consul of Swarzlandia regarding some sort of pact...

Battle in Forge Valley

Introduction

General Gilder's Confederate Army continues to fight its way across Featherstone County on the road to Washington. Desperately short of supplies, the campaign looks close to failure. By chance the General learns of a Union cache of food and ammunition held in Forge Valley. A force is sent under Colonel Potter (an ancestor of the famous Korean War Officer) to take the much needed provisions.

The game was fought using the Portable Wargame. Exhaustion Point was 30% casualties. The CSA had until sundown (15 turns) to drive the Union force off the table and capture the supply dump (building). The heavily wooded hills were impassable. I used playing cards to determine the number of units that could be activated in each turn, as described in the Solo suggested rules, which worked well.

Couldn't resist borrowing this from Plastic Soldier Review

Game

A crisp Autumn morning - The initial disposition

The Union defence (Commander: Col. Horatio Webster)

The Rebels advance

Dismounted Cavalry about to join the fire fight on the CSA left flank

The Artillery was (as usual in my games) ineffective

CSA Cavalry charge the guns

and prevail (Col. Webster has quickly changed units!)

The end is in sight. Union at Exhaustion Point, CSA close to it.

Sundown - The Union's last unit are allowed to retire

The game was basically a fire fight between a larger attacking force and a defender who had the benefit of some cover. In the end the larger force won, but only just. The CSA had only one point left before they reached EP.

Favourite Wargame Figures?

Today's post by Tradgardmastare, featuring his Gondor Army (see here ), got me reminiscing about my old collection of MiniFigs Mythical Earth figures.

 
I think that they are almost certainly my favourite Wargames' figures, and definitely the most used. During the mid to late 1970s many , many games were played, either solo or against school friends who also collected these charming toys, featuring the Armies of Good and Evil and often involving the siege of an Airfix Roman Fort. Most people were using the proto-fantasy rules featured in the back of WRG Ancients version 4(?) or Wizards and Warfare by Peter Irving, which I had - it cost the princely sum of 50 New Pence, which was quite a lot considering the cost of MiniFigs Infantry was about 7p each.

By modern standards they are not fantastic pieces of sculpture, but the limited amount of pocket money available meant that each purchase involved hours thinking about which figures to buy, consulting the adverts in Military Modelling and writing wish-lists, and this added to the pleasure of owning them.
That's probably enough waxing lyrical by me for one day. Do you have a favourite range of wargame figures??

Battle is Joined

Background

Albionia's colony on the Uqbal sub-continent is bordered to the North by a wilderness of hills and deserts that are inhabited by fiercely independent tribesmen. To the East is the Kingdom of Uqbalistan, formerly a useful puppet state and ally, but recently, under the new King, becoming a potential problem. The small Army of Uqbalistan had been trained and equipped by Albionia and was a handy tool in the fight against slave-traders and troublesome desert tribesmen. The new King has raised many conscript regiments, arming them with old muskets, and spies report tribes from the hills and deserts are in his pay.   In a recent dispatch to the Motherland, the Governor of Albionian Uqbal has warned His Majesty's Government that there is a high probability of conflict with the Kingdom of Uqbalistan.

Albionian military keeping a close eye on the border, for good reason

Game

A force from the Army of Uqbalistan has moved across the border and is currently occupying the last stop of the Trans-Uqbal Railway.

Went for a Joseph Morschauser look here...

A column of Albionian troops rush to repulse the invaders.

Dirigible's view of the battlefield

Conscripts defend the Station with Regular troops held in reserve

The Uqbalistan General and a battalion of Regulars behind the Railway Station

Early action on Albionia's right flank (the Uqbali Cavalry are "Heroic" 28mm)

Albionian Infantry march to rifle range (outside of musket range)

The sharp shooting of the Guards removes all the enemy gunners 

The enemy artillery being killed off by the fine shooting of the Guards battalion, the Uqbali General moved his regular infantry up to the walls, which proved to be the turning point of the battle...

The loss of their commander brings the Uqbalistan Army close to exhaustion point

Uqbali forces fall back to avoid casualties but by Turn 7 Exhaustion Point is reached

Having reached Exhaustion Point, the Army of Uqbalistan could take no more decisive action and was gradually reduced by long range shooting from the Albionian troops. On the left flank the Caledonian Greys destroyed the dessert tribesmen and threated the enemy rear. The invaders pulled out and retreated back over the border leaving the Albionian Army to await reinforcements and new orders.
This game did not turn out how I expected, due to a lucky shot by a Guardsman that took out the General, which always makes things more interesting! Putting the conscripts with their muskets (50% shorter range than rifles) to the front was a mistake, as two battalions of the rifle-armed regulars didn't even get to move before Exhaustion Point was reached - fortunes of war etc. Until next time, thanks for visiting.

Watchers in the Hills - prelude to battle

Albionian spotters observe troop movements on the border with Uqbalistan