Braddock's Defeat on the Monogahela

 I am a big fan of Muskets and Tomahawks, 1st Ed. I'm not such a fan of the 2nd Ed. Today I played a fun game based on Braddock's ambush during the French and Indian War, as we call it here in the US. Although outnumbered, the French and their Canadian and Indian allies completely triumphed over the more numerous British, even though the British possessed artillery and better trained troops. The Indians and Canadian militia were able to move through the forest at will, while the British were stuck on the forest path. When the British were able to charge home, which happened once, they made short work of the their tormentors, but the constant sniping wore down the British and, when a regular French infantry unit entered the battle, with their volley fire, it was all over for the British. We used the ranges and move distances as written and, even though the figures were 54 and not 28mm, it played well.

ACW battle in 54mm - August 14, 2021

ACW game, with Steven and me. 

Figures from Steven.

To simulate the uncertainty we started the game with blancs (white painted figures with a letter or number on the base) representing one or more units or ...just noting. Also for the reserves I had forseen playing cards. Both the attacker and the deffender had to draw a card out of 3.  For the attacker it was 4 - 5 or 6 , the defender 2 - 3 or 4. The figure representing the number of reserve units arriving between turn 2 and turn 7.  (also dicing). The arrival place also had to be noted beforehand.

The game: 10 units or Federals with 2 batteries definding a crossroad behind fieldworks. Part of the units are 5 stands strong. The batteries firing with a +1D. Only one unit is veteran.

The Condederates attacking with 12 units and 4 batteries.  1 Elite unit and 7 veteran units. Only the Confiderates have a +1D when charging.

The Elite Louisiana Tigers try to dislogde the sharpshooters. The first attack failing, the second succeeded thanks to support from 2 other units. The losses however were heavy for the Tigers, their role reduced to supporting other units.

The non -veteran Confederates tried to charge the fieldworks but failed on with several attemts

The Federal right in the wooded hills was facing the main Confederate attack. The reserves of the latter also arriving on the far left in turn 2. Giving however with the great number of units on that flank a problem of getting enough orders with the command dice.

On the Federal left, more confederate troops pushed the sharpsooters out of the woods. The Federal left was under stress. The 2 resevere units arrived in the center.

Federal sorties from the fieldworks were driven back with artillery fire

The Federal heavy battery kep further Condederate assault atempts at bay.

The Confederates started to push back the Federal right .

Also on the left Confederate charges were successfull destroying a unit an with the breaktrough also one of the batteries.

Only a countercharge of my veteran unit was able to stop the Confederate advance and stabelise the situation. 

The confederate reserves finaly making contact, the Federal right collapsing.

The Federal forse had no other option than to cede possesion of the strategic crossroad.

 

Battle of the Golden Spurs 11th July 1302 - in 54mm

the 11th of July is the Flemish national day. In the recent Wargames Illustrated (WI403), there is an article about the battle.In the previous edition(WI402), an article about the Flemish town militias. It was one of the first battles where town militia defeated and destoyed a knights army. And not any kights army: the army of France, seen at the time as the best in the world. 

 Link to wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Golden_Spurs 

 Slightly improvised but successful game. Steven and Adrien on the Flemish side. Patrick and me took the French.

The battle started with, skimishing on both sides.  On the Flemish left flank, irritated by the French archers, Steven advanced his the East Flemish militias, stretching the center and creating a weakened  only one unit deep line.

Patrick, who controlled the French center and right launched every knight unit forward.

Due to lack of space for a full charge the kinghts didn't couldn't brak any infantry unit in a first round of fighting.  But the knights in the center kept on puching the infantry back and some units broke. The Flemish center giving way

It took some time before Patrick could restore order in his knight units but from that moment, the Flemish left was doomed, receving attcks in the flank. The knights on foot Flemish reserve started to move to late to restore the line.

The French left had fewer units, weren't able to get a foothold over the brook and lost a number of units, closing breaking point.

The only thing the Flemish knights on foot could do was create a second line, But now the French knights had the space to launch full scale  impact charges to victory. The battle was over.

The game on the French left was much closer to what happend in the real battle. In reality due to the brooks, the French couldn't perform an impact charge and after making contact whit the militia were driven back to the brooks where their were slaughtered  or drowned . In the center, where the town militia was further away from the brooks, the French knights had room for their impact charge, and they had driven back the town militias, but the Flemish knights on foot stabilized the situation  and the French commander, Artois was killed, the remaining of the French army turning to flee. The impossible had happend. The best army of nobility in Western Europe defeated by commoners on foot.

Hollywood History: Major Dundee's Battle at the River

 The 1965 film Major Dundee is popular with my club members, most of whom are aging Baby Boomers, like myself. I had long wanted to play the climactic last action in the film where Dundee and his command have to fight overwhelming numbers of French cavalry in order to cross the border back into the United States. In the film, the the French cavalry are lancers, who never actually served in Mexico, so I substituted Del Prado Chasseurs d'Afrique and DSG mounted Foreign Legion figures. The Americans are a mixture of Britains Deetail and other ACW cavalry. I provided dismounted figures for each of the mounted Americans, but as it turned out, only the artillery group dismounted to fire. For rules I used the "Bigger Battles" rules based on A Fistful of Lead. Initiative is still card driven, but the cards control units, not single figures. Since the French are unable to use their firearms, I allowed them to be recycled to a total of twelve units, vs the American's four. This proved to be a little too overwhelming and, in future I will only allow a total of three French units to be recycled. On turn six, a following force of French infantry appeared behind the Americans to make sure they leave the Mexican side. The game began with the American mountain gun doing real damage to the French stationed across the river and, as the French began to advance into the river (at half speed) they began to take casualties from the American rifle fire. When the American counter charged into the river the greater number of French swordsmen began to take their toll and the Americans never made it more than halfway across the river, losing their cannon and supply mules as well. It was still a fun game for all involved in this fictional battle. Note: I had to cobble together two different miniature rivers to make the meter wide river I needed. Next time I'll have a better looking river.