Testing!

This is just a test. Since my last attempt failed utterly, I'm trying a new thing. Please be patient.
If this were an actual blog entry, you would be notified of what to do by Freedonian Civil Defence.

Testing... testing... can you hear me?

Imagine that!

I originally posted this a day ago, but none of the photos made it into the blog. It seems I had not adjusted them to the proper style for the blog to take it. So the notation appeared "the blog you are looking for does not exist. 

I blame gremlins.

At the Hamilton Road Games Group, a bunch of us plunged into the Imagi-nations gaming again for what Andy called "winter training." We all need to get used to the rules and their quirks... and quite a few quirks surfaced on Saturday.
Andy, Steven, and Martin lead the coalition of Frankenschweiners and Rationalians (Martin's troops are for the Serene Republic of Rationalia with all the units named for various philosophers) while Rob, our friend Jeff, and your humble scribe pushed metal for Freedonia, the Duchy of Worchestershiresauce, and the United Clans of Galifrey. (Jeff took all the photos since my mighty sieve-like brain couldn't handle all the memory. Jeff is also the fearless leader of the reenactment group that Rob and I belong to.)

Is Fearless Leader, Yes?

Here's a look at the field, looking along the Freedonian lines:

Freedonian Cavalry - the Hesse-Burder Hussars, Freedonian Dragoons, and the Edelfahne Trabantenkorps (guard
heavy cavalry) advance under the command of General deSastre (aptly named as will be seen.)
The figure in the town of Dorfstadt is an agent of the secret police - he won't even tell ME his name.

Rufus I Glühwürmchen, the Grand Elector was not present for the battle, so he can't be blamed... er, he delegated command. Unfortunately no one on the field knew whom he had delegated command to. deSastre led the cavalry. Hartman oversaw the guns. Heinzelmenchen lead the left flank infantry. General Flern was doing something, I'm not sure what. General Harry Dresden, now seconded to the Duchy of Worchestershiresauce, let those troops and the Scots of Galefrey, along with an yet unnamed "mystery commander." The cavalry advanced on the left to meet the Rationalians while the warriors of the Turtleburpers and Katzenjammers raced forward on the right, with the mounted braves of the Soooo.

The Tribal warriors liked the idea of staying behind the stone walls near the village of Stadtdorf, but
eventually they ALMOST turned flank of the Frankenschweiners.
The mounted Soooo made themselves annoying as well.

This was Jeff's first time with the rules and Andy game him a quick tutorial as we set up. He caught on quick and lead his brigades off the hill where his 12-pounders stood. The guns followed soon after.

The artillery moves out with the Freikorps as escort. The Irish Legion leads the right column while the Pandours Pavkovic lead the right. Regiment Stahl follows with the German Regiment, the two grenadier battalions of Stinner and Curatola, and the Foot Guards with General Hartman following. He is the Master Gunner of the army and had his first field command this day.

The Pandours face off against Frankenschwein's  WolfenJager. The Pandours stood off the fire of three field pieces but eventually felt the better part of valour was discretion and fell back... fast... through their own troops... picking pockets.

The centre of both armies advanced cautiously and hardly engaged; it seemed that Jeff and Steven were playing "chicken." Rob threw his natives out to the flank fast and ended up on the hill on Andy's left, and actually BEHIND Andy's line. The nature of the warriors - all irregular light infantry and the lightest cavalry possible - made them somewhat brittle, but they made Andy sweat. The fact that our side out-numbered the F&R coalition by about 30%+ was another factor in the perspiration involved.

Rob's mixed force of Scots and Worchestershiresaucers advance into the teeth of Andy's two battalions of  Regiment Hammhock. The blue chip indicates a casualty for Andy's troops while the white rings show casualties for the allies.

Another view of Rob's advance to meet Andy's troops. On the far right at the top of the photo,  you can see the native light infantry and light cavalry up on the hill as well as the mounted riflemen/dragoons of Rob's army. (Green hunting shirts)

A wild cavalry/light infantry battle ensued. Andy had regular dragoons and Rob's stuff was mostly irregulars, so he ended up either dying where he stood or being run off the field. Andy had some rough moments;
Don't let him tell you otherwise. (Hey! Who's writin' this rag... you or me?)

Jeff and Steven advanced toward each other, trading cannon shots all the way. It was a slow and tentative show, which lasted until curfew.

Jeff's Freedonian grenadiers (Battalions Stinner and Curatola) advance with General Lebo toward the Frankenschweiner lines. Regiment Stahl and the Irish Legion are almost in contact. To the far right, Rob's troops show coloured pipe cleaners that show their status. (blue=disorganized, yellow=broken, red=routed.) They had had a unit fall back through them all.

The German Regiment and a battalion of Regiment Stahl are about to make contact. Andy's guard regiment is in the rear, in yellow coats.

Martin and I threw our cavalry brigades at each other. My hussars led the way - appropriately - and were met by Martin's Todtenkopf Hussars and Regiment Hagel. (guard armoured cavalry) He was in two ranks, I was in one... and that was a lesson learned. In Age of Reason, cavalry may fight in two ranks with all in both ranks counting as engaged. So I was out numbered 2 to1! My hussars broke and ended up tearing off the board despite my best efforts to stop them. They disorganized the Dragoons and the Edelfahne, but I was able to form them into two lines and engage the Rationalian ragamuffins in a serious cavalry melee that took THREE turns to work out. My dragoons fell back. Our guard cavalry units - both cuirassiers with guard morale - fought for three turns despite the fact that I was disorganized. The dragoon regiment came back and joined the fray and Martin threw in two Rationalian grenadier battalions. I finally lost the eternal melee, but Martin knew he'd been in a scrape!

Since the outcome of the cavalry battle was anything but certain, I formed two of my battalions into square. (Regiments Gibbs and Luzerne) You can see Martin's grenadiers in the background. The Freedonian Dragoons are about to return to the battle, and the Saxe-Bariton schutzen watch apprehensively.

An early game view of my deployment. My cavalry is in single line while Martin's is in double line.
Live and learn. Live and learn.
The Electoral Jagers took up residence in the walled field and took potshots at Martin's troops with their rifles. We have a gentleman's agreement that only one unit in each army will be armed with rifles.

A nice view of the Frankenschweiner artillery I faced. Andy's infantry and Dragoons are in maroon/red, artillery and light troops in grey. Obviously his guns are in... shall we say, electric blue?

We had to quit the game because of time and Jeff had to leave at 4pm anyway. (He works three jobs at least.) The Allies had sustained 25% casualties and had to withdraw in fairly good order, although there was some disorder. (AoR has rules for that.) It was a good game with a lot of tense moments, especially involving the hack-and-slash of the guard cavalry units.

Lessons learned?

• Put your cavalry in TWO ranks right off, especially when facing other cavalry.
• Keep light infantry in rough ground where it can do a lot of good, or else, put them in a protected place and deny that place to the enemy.
• Leave firing lanes for your artillery. Over the years, I've had difficulty with that.

I'm looking forward to the next game. I have an order in with Frying Pan & Blanket in Minnesota and I should have some interesting additions to the Freedonian army by next time. They offer a range of troops from Wayne's Legion/Fallen Timbers and I wanted to see some of them.

Next game: Naval Thunder. I'll finally get to play some more modern naval games. After that --- HOT LEAD in Stratford - a good convention that Rob and I will gleefully attend. The other guys will be there but they've got plans that I don't. Because of my ministry, I can't always be sure emergencies won't change my plans.

A few extra photos:

Rob and Andy's deployment around the village of Dorfstadt

The Foot guards and the Archbishop's Own advance.

One of Rob's Highland units (from my wife's army of Galifrey) takes refuge in the stone enclosed farmer's field.
General Dresden rides behind them.

General Lebo, two battalions of grenadiers, and a battalion of Regiment Stahl (as well as a corner of the Irish Legion), all part of Jeff's division, prepare to mix it up with Andy's Hammhock grenadiers under Steven's command.

The fateful cavalry battle begins!

... and continues!

An un-retouched photo of the culprit.

Now... completly different... something

A bit disjointed, I know. And I'm not having a seizure. I'm going to blog a real story later, but I've had something on my mind.

Well, two things actually.



What's not to love? An Argentine cavalry band helicon player
in a very Germanic tunic and a Swiss steel helmet.

 My mast head is a mounted bass horn player... and he's NOT playing a tuba. He is playing a bass brass insturment called a "helicon." These are rarely seen today. I played one - a 100-year old example - at a gig with a "hobo band" many years ago. (A "hobo band" is a Pennsylvania parade creature where all the players dress however they want - the more outlandish the better - and sometimes play marches "straight" and sometimes wacky. The Original Allentown Hobo Almost-Marching Band used to lie down in the street at intersections and play "In Heaven There Is No Beer" and then march on. The bass drummer stood on his head... while wearing a dress. I stood on the curb with the crowd and played the bass part.) Anyway... the helicon didn't play well.

Most United States marching units use the Sousaphone in their parade work. It's easy to carry and if it's made out of fibreglass, it's light. The tone is wretched, however.


A brass Sousaphone - straw boater optional

A tuba is a brass bass horn used in concert bands and orchestras. Tone is much better and the valves can be of the piston type (in Britian, Japan, and North America) or the rotary type (like a French Horn, usually found in European manufactured instruments.) It's still a bass insturment, but more refined than the Sousaphone. It's hard to carry and parade work usually involves a strap or harness. British military bands use a harness and a sort of apron which keeps (wait for it!) the insturment from scratching the buttons of the uniform coat! European military bands including the British (and Canadians, for that matter) use tubas on parade, the exception being the French military who are often photographed with Sousaphones.



See... I told you. A military band of the French Foreign Legion...
...AVEC SOUSAPHONES!



Your humble blogger and his old friend -
A Yamaha 4-valve 9/8 size upright tuba.
THAT was a nice horn. The case had wheels!
(Upright means the valves are vertical when the horn is played.)

Now I told you that story so I could tell you this one. (an old Bill Cosby line.) Years ago, I was on the old "Command Decision" message board and the question came up:

If you could see any figure or set of figures molded for table-top wargaming purposes,

what would it be?

The second question was like it:

In your opinion, what would be the most WORTHLESS wargaming figure or set of figures?

To answer the first one, things like WWII Algerian Goumier infantry (I see they're being made in 25mm), combat engineers, and even bands were included. Some correspondants poo-poo'd the band idea, but most folks liked the idear for "table clutter" and morale purposes. They would look absolutely too cool!

So here are the questions of the day:

If you could see any figure or set of figures molded for table-top wargaming purposes,

what would it be?

  

In your opinion, what would be the most WORTHLESS wargaming figure or set of figures?

No scale or period is out of bounds. You want Heinlein's Mobile Infantry in Marauder suits? Let me know. I have no power to make anything happen (as a married Lutheran pastor with children, I don't even know what  power is.) but this makes a good fantasy exercise.

I'll start.

     +  Bands in 15mm for Napoleonics or WWII (I have an ACW brass band, thanks to Peter Pig)

     +  15mm SYW Schaumburg Lippe Bückeburg Carabiniers (a beautifully weird outfit)

     +  15mm or 25mm US Infantry in tattered clothing for the War of 1812

     +  25mm Spanish Civil War Guardia Civil in that odd laquored tricorn

     +  15mm Combat Engineers for any nation

     +  25mm Gurhkas for the ETO (Kukri raid anyone?)

As to the worthless (These should NEVER be made):

     -  WWII US graves registration company

     -  Napoleonic Austrian Palace guard (with halbreds no less)

     -  Napoleonic French Customs Guards

That's enough. You're turn.



Schaumburg Lippe Bückeburg Carabiniers
You know you want them!



Imigi-nations on the march!

I have not blogged in a while and I make no apologies. I've been quite busy with work (year-end reports and funerals) and my wife had major surgery. She's doing quite a lot better now, thank you, but it leaves me as the only licensed driver in the house. (My daughter has her "G-1", but she can't drive without a licensed driver in the front seat with her.) I've missed a few games and I will get to them. The game today, I have to tell you about.

     Andy, Martin, Kevin, Rob, and I put our new Imigi-nations figures on the board to try them out. We wanted to practise with the rules and clean off the "new unit" curse from all the figs. Since we're still learning the rules ("Warfare in the Age of Reason"), the game went slowly, but it was enjoyable which is the whole idea. Anyway, the legions of the Grand Electorate of Saxe-Fredonia with their allies from Gallifrey (Beth's Scots) and the Duchy of Worchestershiresauce (Rob's Anglo-American Indian army) met the troops of Frankenschwein on the field. We "set the table" according to the random map system laid out in the rules. (In my opinion, it is a wonderful way to randomise the field and well worth 'borrowing' for any game.) The Saxe-Fredonians outnumbered the Frankenschweinians (Frankenschweiners?? Yeah, that seems right.) but they had more cannon than we. We were pretty evenly matched. We had slightly more cavalry and 3 light infantry units to the Frankies one.



On the right, Rufus I with his aides meets the Frankenschweiner commander.
I didn't get his name.

 

The battle field looking west. Martin considers his options and Kevin looks over his as well.



the field looking west-southwest overlooking the Whine River.
Andy makes a point while  Rob, Kevin, and Martin look on.

The Frankenschweiner infantry advances with artillery support.
Frying Pan & Blanket artillery sets include a gun and a limber with horses.
They are little gems!

Kevin's brigades - The Fredonian Freikorps, the German Battalion, Pavkovic's Pandours,
both battalions of Regiment Stahl, a 12# battery and the Hesse-Burder Hussars.
General Heinzelmenchen is in command.



Rob's brigade including two large warbands - probably from the Heckowi and
Turtleburper tribes. (I'm making this up as I go along!) 

 

Frankenschweiner artillery in both 6# and 12# flavours. The dragoons are backing them.

The Frankenschweiner commander with an artillery battery

His Grace, Michael, archbishop of Fredonia ("Die verrückten Pastor") took the field with
his regiment who actually stood to the left out of this photo.

Both sides advanced and exchanged artillery fire which was more of an annoyance than anything else. Rob faced Martin's light infantry in the woods on the bank of the River Whine and had to retreat once formed troops came up. In the centre, my Fredonians faced nothing less than the Frankenschweiner Guard Grenadiers backed up by a battalion of line grenadiers. Regiment Luzerne lost it's 2nd battalion in hand to hand combat with the Guards when the battalion failed to counter-charge those Guards. The Guards were hurt but being larger-than-average and tougher-than-average, they carried the fight.



The Guards and grenadiers advance.

 

The Guards from another viewpoint. Their yellow uniforms are distinctive.



Regiment Luzerne takes a beating. Regiment Gibbs, to their left, suffered from artillery
bombardment. Behind them, 1/Regiment Nurn is in support.

On the left flank, Kevin manoeuvred his brigade and the Hussars to face off Andy's infantry and dragoons. At one point, his 12# battery bombed our a Frankenschweiner battery and chased it off! (a medal for those artillerists!) His brigade included the 1st & 2nd battalions, Regiment Stahl, The Freikorps (Thugs, muggers and thieves!), the German Battalion, the Irish Legion, the Archbishop's Own, and Pavkovic's Pandours.



Archbishop Michael and his one-battalion regiment

 

The Hesse-Bruder Hussars, the Irish Legion, and the Archbishop's Own.
The gigantic die kept track of the turns - we're on turn 5!



Andy's Frankenschweiner Dragoons.
He based his troops on FP&B's AWI German musketeers, grenadiers, dragoons, and gunners.




Another view of the Frankenschweiner Guards slapping Regiment Luzerne around.
The green bingo chip indicated a casualty. The white tile shows the original start
position of the charge in order to calculate possible breakthroughs.

 

Rob's cavalry - both 'regular' light cavalry and First Nations' horse - just before
their brave but ill-fated charge.
The Saxe-Bariton Shutzen watch in awe.. or something like it.

On the allied right, Rob's tribal warriors were not able to stand before formed troops and fell back through the woods. His cavalry, two half-sized units of light cavalry and Indian horsemen charged the Frankenschweiner line and were thrown back.

Curfew rang and we called it a day. The Fredonians and their allies lost a few more troops but there were more of us to start with. The affair was still undecided. Our centre was in trouble, but the flanks were strong. The Frankenschweiners had lost a gun and had committed their Guard and grenadiers from the first. Rufus' Electoral Foot Guard and Grenadier Battalion Stinner were still in reserve. Rob had not unlimbered his field piece when we called it a day.

Lessons:

• Light infantry cannot stand before formed troops, so they should be kept to deny the enemy forests, rough ground, and built up areas. We all decided that only one light unit in each army could be rifle armed.
• Deploy into line immediately. Changing formation takes valuable time and movement.
• Keep your generals handy to put some backbone into wavering troops or assaults, but have plenty of generals since they can be killed doing their jobs.

Finally some more photos:


The Fredonian left flank under General Heinzelmenchen and the Archbishop face
the enemy advance over the rubber roads.

 

Martin's Wolfen light infantry battle the tribes in the forest.

 

The Elector and his supply train. I'm afraid to ask what's in it!

 

Fredonian Artillery
FP&B German gunners and French guns painted in Austrian colours.
I suppose I have a 'thing' for Austria.
The civilian 'contractors' hauling the gun haven't run away yet.

 

His Grace, the Grand Elector, Rufus I Glowurmchen.
At least he was still on the battlefield, making cracks and being cynical
... and hilarious!

 

Frying Pan & Blanket make their tribal warriors in 7 different poses. Add in the
dismounted horse warriors and you've got quite a variety.



Martin's brigade of Andy's army set to advance with the Wolfen Light Infantry in the lead.
Martin's troops - still in the painting and basing stage (he's a very busy man) will serve the
Serene People's Republic of Rationalia. All his units are named for philosophers.

 My regiments have funny names, I know. They're often named for places I've lived (Luzerne County), old friends (Stahl, Stinner, Pavkovic), or wierdness (Nurn or Hess Brothers, after the old department store). I've named generals for various things; "Lebo" for an old fiend, "Heinzelmenchen" are the German elves that make shoes for the old shoemaker, and Dresden -who is now seconded to Rob's army for Harry Dresden from the fantasy novels. There's even a "General de Sastre." (Sound it out.) It's all for fun anyway.

Hail, hail Fredonia! Land of the brave and free!