Dare I say... My wife has beaten me.

After that provocative title, I must explain that my wife is quite non-violent... except on the game table. Since I usually take some time off after the rush of Holy Week and Easter, we played one of our favourite games on Easter Monday and Tuesday - Napoleonics using Shako as our rules of choice on two tables in our front room. Since we don't play often, our memory of the rules was rusty and we made some mistakes, but the game was fun and we -as always- pledged ourselves to play more.

Beth fielded her Italians with French troops (and Confederation of the Rhine folks) as allies. I took the field with my Ottoman Turks. This was the first time the Turks had seen the light of day on the field and the "new unit curse" was in full effect. More on that later.
Beth formed up with her best stuff - the Italian Guard and their buddies in the middle along with the Italian Guard of Honour, Italian dragoons and the Saxon Garde du Corps. She had dragoons, some French hussars, and Italian Cacciatori a Cavallo (Light Horse/Chasseur a Cheval) on the flanks. Her cannon were in double batteries on one flank (4! including two horse batteries) and in the centre. My Turks were in three divisions - all that's allowed by Shako, although I could have had a reserve division as well had I really read the rules. My left was Mamluk cavalry, medium foot batteries, and a large number of 2nd Rate infantry (Sekhans of the provincial governors). The centre was two medium batteries, Janissaries (2nd Rate), Guard Janissaries and Bostanci (Elites), and a number of good Sipihi regiments, including the elite Shillitar guards as well as some Bashi-bazouks to soak up casualties. The right was heavy guns, some 2nd raters, decent Sipihis, and 5 regiments of the Nizam-I-Cedid - the "New Order Army", all Western European trained with discipline and bayonets.

Beth's lines from the satellite

I consider my options... which are few for Napoleonic Ottomans.

Our troops advanced toward each other with the wings of both armies moving to come to grips. The terrain was minimal so there was little to set up an Ottoman-friendly defence around, so off went the Bashi-bazouks! Beth's style is quite aggressive so she moved to attack as well. As it happened, both wings exhausted themselves against one another.

Italian dragoons. I don't know the manufacturer, but they look properly aggressive.
In the Napoleonic era, the Kingdom of Italy fielded good troops, often as good as
the French, often better than the Austrians, and always better than the Neapolitans.

Sipihis backed by Circassians. Really old Minifigs from their Renaissance and
Crimean War ranges.

French Hussars mix it up with a unit of Bashi-bazouks/Yoruks. "Bashi-bazouk" means
"crazy heads" and that's the truth. It's a short-hand term for mounted 2nd rate light
cavalry. Believe it or not, the Turkes have WORSE cavalry. The next lower morale class
is "Unreliable" which covers many Cossacks, Arab cavalry, Turkish Fellahin (peasants)
... and... all the cavalry of the Kingdom of Naples. (Note to self: never paint THEM!)

Provincial Sipihis and Circassian Yoruks meet Italian Dragoons and Italian Cacciatori a Cavallo. Beth and I agreed that my cavalry wouldn't be lancers. That will NOT be an option next time. Need I say, my cavalry was either thrown back 18" or died where they stood.

Beth's Italian Grand Battery - horse guns (two figures) and foot batteries (three figures)

Our centre divisions moved slowly toward each other and my cavalry soon engaged Beth's in a swirling mass of sabres and horse flesh. Mostly I got thrown back.

The Nizam-I-Cedid advance behind a Raya skirmish line.
The Nizam are Old Glory and the Raya skirmishers are AB Miniatures.
The Nizam in blue are in their away-from-Istanbul outfits while the red-jacketed
troops are in their "dress" uniforms. They were the only Turk units to be uniformed!

The Janissary Odas advance.
First three ranks - AB Miniatures; last rank - Falcon Miniatures.
Shako rates Janissaries as Elites or Regulars. That's okay for the guard, but
most of the Janissaries were gangster scum, busily engaged in protection
rackets and extortion while hiring Yamak auxiliaries to perform their actual duties.
The Janissaries often deposed sultans and slaughtered the Nizam-I-Cedid twice,
as the new troops were "an offence against Islam" as well as a threat to their
privileges.

My centre's cavalry advances. Sipihis of the Porte and a Shillitar guard regiment
(in red) follow a screen of Yoruks/Bashi-bazouks.

Beth's Italian Guards and other good troops face the onslaught of Yoruks

On the Turkish left, a regiment of Cacciatori a Cavallo attack a Mamluk outfit and get mouse-trapped by more Mamluks. The white circles are casualties and the stand of Mamluks is turned sideways to indicate they are disrupted by something. Coloured markers will come later. I don't think this went well for the Italians, but the Mamluks were hurt.

The Italian Guard of Honour flank some Bashi-bazouks... who evaporated soon
after this photo was taken. Guard cavalry vs. 2nd Rate cavalry? Taken in the flank?
I think you, gentle reader, can figure this one out.

The French Hussars and the Saxon Garde du Corps fell back to recover after slapping
Bashi-bazouks around for a while. In Shako, guard rated units take 6 casualties before
"breaking" (and leaving the field/evaporating) while French Hussars take four. By contrast,
2nd Rate units take 2 casualties before going poofters. The little circle on the ground behind
the unit indicates that the cavalry is "blown" and needs to rest/recover unmoving for a turn.

The game was held over two days, and after playing a few turns on Tuesday, my left flank - 2nd rate infantry and the survivors of the Mamluks - failed divisional morale and collapsed. That was enough. A lot of our powerful stuff never got into the battle. Still we enjoyed it and we pledged to play again.

I have a powerful Austrian army ready to go and Swedes ready to play. I'm working on British, Prussians, and Russians. A few years ago, a good friend of mine was moving and gave me a huge number of unpainted 15mm figs. So I have projects enough for a few winters. I also have US troops to face the Brits in War of 1812 games... one of which was in my blog a while ago. They probably could be used as Portuguese in Peninsular games.

Now some more photos:

Italian line infantry advancing   (Essex Minis and Minifigs behind)

The Saxon Garde du Corps cross swords with some Bashi-bazouks. After the melee
was concluded and the Bashi-bazouks destroyed, the Saxons wisely called back
behind their skirmishers to avoid being charged by the elite Sipihis you see in the
centre of the photo.

 Sekhans and foot guns.

"Tony, this maybe is-a not a good place for us, no?"

Turk Skirmishers - "Rayas" who were often Christian sharpshooters from the Balkans
recruited as irregulars to screen the formed troops. Let's not kid ourselves: In an
Ottoman army, most of the units are irregulars! Only the Guard cavalry, the Nizam-I-Cedid,
and the artillery would be considered "regulars." In times past, the Janissaries would be
as well, but their decline into paid brigandage, political extortion, pyromania (they constantly
set fires in Istanbul where they were also the fire brigade!), and indolence left them as
arrogant second raters at best.

Beth's Ambulance corps model.
Delightful table clutter. Since Beth was a US Navy Medic for a term, she likes to
put this on the table. She painted the models as well.

Turkish heavy guns - Minifigs from the Wellington in India range.
They are too undressed for Muslim troops, but the models are just too choice
not to use.

Italian medic at his business.

Turk foot guns - Minifig Renaissance gunners in hats that remind me of Jughead.
The Sekhans of their division have advanced beyond them as the entire division
recoiled and failed their divisional morale, ending the game.

So Beth beat me. This in not unusual: I rarely win against any body. And I'll keep playing. Interestingly enough, at the game ended, Andy showed up! He wanted to get out of the house and had some gaming magazines for me. I also had some Imagi-nations figures for him. Two of the magazines were old issues of the Courier with article on how to successfully play Napoleonic Turks! Post-Easter reading, it is!

So lessons learned:

• Set up Turkish cavalry in waves with the slime up front and the good stuff behind. Same for the infantry.
• Stop trying to advance over the entire field; refuse a flank or the centre until something disasterous happens to my opponent. (Wishful thinking, John.)
• Read the rules again. And get new dice; my present set hate me. Sixes when I need ones and vice-versa.
• Turk Cavalry get lances! (except for Djellis/Scouts, Bashi-bazouks, and Mamluks) I will brook no arguements on this issue!

Finally, my favourite figure on the table - my wife, Beth, leading her troops to victory.

"You're attacking with WHAT? Are you SURE you want to eat tonight?"

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!