10mm Zulu War with Black Powder

I had Henry over for a gaming day today. He brought his 10mm Zulu War armies and we managed to get two games in, one before lunch and one afterwards. It was a simple scenario, the British had to escort a supply column across the table, or at least fight the Zulus off and prevent them capturing or destroying the baggage.

The British had 2 brigades, each of 3 infantry units, plus a single light gun.  The Zulus had 3 brigades of 3 warband units and a brigade of 2 warbands and 2 skirmishers (Head, Chest and 2 Horns!).

The first game was a outright Zulu victory. The right Horn rush forward and caught everyone by surprise, including the Zulu commander! The British failed their first attempt to form into a line and only succeeded after the Zulu charge fell just short and failed to make contact. (3 moves instead of 2 would probably have ended the game there and then). The British 1st brigade frantically fought the Horn off, but were effectively pinned in place for the rest of the battle.

As the left Horn closed in, the 2nd brigade deployed into line, but due to lack of space, crammed up against the baggage train, only one of then was able to fire at the incoming Zulus. The 1st unit was forced back in disorder and the Zulus crashed into the second rank. To try and make room to deploy the 3rd unit the CinC ordered the baggage forward, where they were pounced upon by a unit of skirmishers, who quickly destroyed the first stand (an unfortunate group of mules). The lead unit of the Head now came up and took out the other two baggage stands in quick succession. As that had been rather a quick game, we fought on, with the British making some astounding Break Tests (one shaken unit lost 3 consecutive routs of melee and still passed every time).

With one brigade broken on each side and the Zulu Chest moving around to get behind the surviving British, we decided it was time for lunch!

After a pleasant lunch and a beer (Wye Valley Brewery's Butty Bach), we swapped sides and played it again.

This time the Zulus came on at a similar pace, with the Horns slightly advanced from the Head and Chest. The British 2nd Brigade quickly deployed into a firing line, but the 1st brigade repeat their performance from the morning and took three turns to deploy and get into position.

The Zulus tried to close with the redcoats, but this time the British firing from the 2nd brigade threw then back and quickly reduced the left Horn to a single unit. 1 broken brigade for the Zulus! The Head moved across to engage the 2nd brigade as the right Horn crashed into the 1st brigade. The Zulu Head overran the gun, but were thrown back by the British firing once again. As the Zulu attack paused, one of the British units moved across to enfilade the Zulu impis. Pretty soon the |Head was also broken without even contacting the British line.

On the other flank the right Horn routed one of the British units in a hard fought melee then pushed the others backwards. Ina bloody round of fighting they broke the British 1st brigade, but became broken themselves from their losses in the same combat. With 3 Zulu brigades broken now it was a British Victory.

For some reason I completely forgot to take pictures of the first game but here is some of the action from the second one.

 The 2nd Brigade deploy

 But the 1st Brigade dithers!

 The Zulu Head advances

 As does the Right Horn.

 And the Chest.

 The British firing line.

Halts the advance in it's tracks.

 What's left of the Left Horn!

The final situation.

ACW Action

After a bit of a hiatus, here's another 10mm battle report using Black Powder and the Glory Hallelujah! supplement.

The Rebs have cut the Yank's supply line and the General want's the re-established, fast! Each side start with two brigades on the table, the Confederates have two in reserve, the Union three. Reserves can arrive from turn 2, rolling a separate d6 for each brigade. In turn 2 they arrive on 4+, turn 3 on 3+, turn 4 on 2+ and, if they are really unlucky, automatically on turn 5. The Union (Mark) need to establish an unbroken road link from the road exit on the western side of the table to one of the three road exits on the eastern side of the table. The Confederates (me) need to prevent this.

 The battlefield viewed from the south. The small areas of woodland are classed as dense woods and the fence are linear obstacles and impassable to guns.

The Union brought both starting brigades on the northern end of the table, aiming to advance down either side of the northernmost road, and the Confederates deploy both brigades opposite them. This was a bit of a gamble for the Rebs, if the Union reserves arrived much earlier than their own, there was nothing to stop the yanks seizing the southernmost road and grabbing a quick victory. As it was both sides had reserves on the table by turn 3.

Whilst the starting brigades advanced keenly, the first Union reserve brigade advanced to take position on the road junction, forcing the Confederates to deploy their first reserves to the south, between the two roads and squaring up with the Union brigade. These two brigades took no effective part in the battle, just eyeing each other up with a little exchange of long range artillery fire (well a bit one-sided fire actually as the Union battery was quickly knocked out).

 The 4th Confederate brigade takes position covering the two southernmost roads.

Facing off against the union 5th Brigade.

At the northern end of the table the Union troops rushed forward, or at least the 1st Brigade did. Due to incompetent command (2 blunders in 3 command rolls!) the 2nd Brigade was rather tardy in their support. However, by concentrating on the far end of the line the Union 1st Brigade commander managed to line up his 5 regiments facing just 3 Confederate ones. Showing unusual aggression for a Northerner, he charged the entire brigade into the Reb lines. This could be an early breakthrough and a quick victory for the Union!

It was not to be as the dice gods were not kind to Mark. As the blue line charged in, my closing fire was devastating and inflicted heavy casualties. In the following melee all three units in the Union front line were repulsed and two units routed. In my turn a third regiment routed from the effect of my musketry. So at the end of Turn 3, after just one turn of combat, already one Union brigade was broken.

What's left of the Union 1st Brigade!

Leaving a brigade at the crossroads to pin down one of mine (in reality they failed 4 successive Command rolls and never got a chance to move) the Union threw all their reserves against the northern end of the Confederate line.

Their blundering commander had left the Union  2nd brigade somewhat exposed with the front two regiments taking fire from three Confederate units and a gun battery. With the troops in front of them broken, the Confederate  1st Brigade's artillery joined in and as the Rebel reserves arrived a third gun battery started pounding the unfortunate Yanks. Inevitably the front units crumbled under the barrage and a swift Rebel charge left another Union brigade broken for the loss of a single Confederate regiment.

The Union 2nd Brigade takes a beating!

By now the Union had rushed the reserve brigades forward for a final attempt to break through the Confederate lines. The Confederate centre wheeled across to fire into the flanks of the Union troops as they advanced. The combined fire soon took it's toll and a third brigade reached it's break point without even contacting the Confederate lines. A resounding win for the Confederacy.

The Confederate reserve plug the gap in the line.

The Union reserve prepare to advance for their last attempt to break the Rebs.

Interestingly I'd played the same scenario a couple of weeks before, this time taking the Union forces. On that occasion I attacked across a wider front and successfully isolated one Confederate brigade and destroyed it. That left a gap I could exploit and the game ended with a Union win.

A Confederate Army for the War of the Spanish Succession 7

Two more Imperialist infantry regiments finished. These might be the last units I need before the next big game, I just need to finalise the OOB and check. It will be a very rushed paint job if i do need something else for just a couple of weeks time! But why make it easy when I can push myself to the last minute?

The Imperialist gentlemen.

Whilst taking the pictures for this post, I've just spotted an unfinished Palatine regiment I had forgotten all about!

ACW Generals

Taking a brief diversion from my WSS project (I need to do something whilst the paint is drying), I decided to paint some new command stands for my ACW armies. One of each, Union and Confederate. I'm using Black Powder for most games, but might sometimes be using these for original Fire and Fury battles. I did consider adding a couple of standard bearers, but as these might be commanding at either Division or Corps level I decided against that.

A Confederate Army for the War of the Spanish Succession 6

I have finally managed to get back to this project, after a prolonged gap. With the next big WSS game scheduled for mid-May I need to get the Confederate army finished (by "finished" I mean the word very loosely, more in the sense of enough done for this game).

So on with the a Palatine unit in Dutch service and the first two of four Imperialist units. these were originally Savoy regiments, who have been re-assigned for this project, so they were quick to put together, just needing new flags and the facings repainted where necessary.

Two Imperialist Regiments.

And the Palatine Regiment. As the Spanish campaign wore on the Dutch became increasingly reluctant to send Dutch soldiers to the cause, so hired troops from the Palatine of the Rhine to make up their manpower commitment.

A Confederate Army for the War of the Spanish Succession 5

Every army needs a commander, so here is my Confederate general, together with some of his staff and bodyguard. At the moment I'm not sure whether it is the Imperialist general Count Guido von Starhemberg (a cousin of Prince Eugene of Savoy), or else King Charles III himself (perhaps it's both, with von Starhemberg pointing out some issue of importance to His Most Catholic Majesty). The command group is the excellent LOA38 'Dismounted Command Group in Tricorns' from Pendraken. The bodyguards are a couple of spare cavalry I had lying around.

And a quick look at the command stands for my two Dutch regiments with their new banners. Many thanks to Phil Carrington for providing information on the Friesheim and Bruhese Regiments.

I've got some Imperialist infantry on the painting table, I'd better get on with them!

A Confederate Army for the War of the Spanish Succession 4

Now for the start of the mounted contingent. A unit of dragoon and two cavalry units, these three units were painted by Marching in Colour. First up a unit of Aragonese dragoons, both mounted and dismounted. Their uniform is speculative on my part, based on a unit that was formed in Navarre in 1695. The figures are from Pendraken's excellent League of Augsberg range.

After taking these pictures I realised that I had not painted the edges on all of the mounted the bases (Doh!)

And now two units of Catalan cavalry. These figures are Swedish cavalry from Pendraken's Great Northern War range.

A Confederate Army for the War of the Spanish Succession 3

This time two Dutch battalions, one from Bruhese Regiment and one from Friesheim Regiment. Dutch regiments in Spain consisted of two battalions, but it would be a bit dull to field two identical units, so I've done one from each. No flags at the moment as I haven't been able to track them down yet. I may have to end up going for something a little more generic, but we shall see. A few of these are some secondhand figures I picked up and I painted the rest to try and fit in.

A closer shot with the Bruhese battalion in front.

And one with the Friesheim battalion to the front.

I'm currently basing some cavalry, so they will be up next.

A Confederate Army for the War of the Spanish Succession 2

Four more pro-Carolean Spanish infantry for my new army. These were painted for me by Will Denham.

Two Catalan infantry battalions. The front unit is a regular battalion, the rear battalion is the unit known as the "Esquadra Nova". In 1713 this formed the core of a new regiment of mountain fusiliers, the Regiment de Sant Ramon de Penyafort, and as I cannot find out what their uniform was in 1710, I have gone for the 1713 blue with yellow facings.

Two units of Catalan Miquelets. These were semi-irregular volunteers units, that were raised on an ad-hoc basis when required. They did not often take a place in the formal battle line, but were renowned for their skills in irregular mountain warfare, they often carried a sword and a pair of pistols for close-in work. Their main use was in sieges and protecting and/or raiding supply lines. In 1713 many Miquelets were adopted into the Catalan army on a more formal basis as mountain fusilier regiments. Again, not knowing what uniform they wore in 1710, if any of them even wore uniforms at all, I have gone for their 1713 appearance.

A Confederate Army for the War of the Spanish Succession 1

In the latter part of 2017 I found myself in that common wargamer's situation, that of pondering what to do next. After all, I only had 3 major projects on the go and they were all nearing completion (or at least what would pass for completion until I saw something new and shiny for them). So I decided to construct an opponent for my War of the Spanish Succession French army. There was no desperate need for this, three guys at my local club have opposition armies, but, having been caught out in the past, I now make it my policy to have a usable force for both sides in any period/scale I collect. all three opponents were geared towards the Northern European theatres, being an Anglo-Dutch army, an all-British army and an Imperialist army. After staging a re-fight of the Battle of Almanza earlier in the year, I was rather taken with the somewhat neglected Spanish theatre for this war, so decided to base my new army there. The Confederate effectively had two field armies in the peninsular, one based in Portugal and one based in Catalonia. I decided to go for the army based in Catalonia, as I had already had 5 battalions of Catalan infantry.

Compared with Marlborough's army in Flanders, sources for the Spanish campaigns are scarce (at least in English) but I did find the excellent book by Nicholas Dorrell "Marlborough's Other Army, The British Army and the Campaigns of the First peninsular War, 1702-1712". Despite the title, this does not concentrate on the British forces in Spain, but covers all the Confederate units fighting there. It is almost an ideal wargamer's book, as it details the war year by year, with extensive orders of battle by regiment and battalion, maps of all the major engagements and organisational and uniform guides (where known) for each nationality involved. All that is missing is a few Osprey-style coloured plates for uniforms and flags. I also had already discovered the wargaming guide "Catalonia Stands Alone" by Lluís Vilalta. This superb little pdf booklet really covers the period 1713-1714, but was still a very useful guide, plus it included a sheet of 10mm flags!

The Confederate forces in Catalonia consisted of a fascinating mixture of nationalities. At the start of 1710 the total forces comprised of 51 infantry battalions and 60 cavalry squadrons. Their break-down was  as follows:
Imperialist 14 battalions, 6 squadrons
Spanish (mainly Catalan and Aragonese) 15 battalions, 12 squadrons
British 13 battalions 10 squadrons
Dutch 2 battalions, 6 squadrons
Portuguese 2 battalions, 18 squadrons
Palatine* 5 battalions 8 squadrons
As the war progressed the Dutch became increasingly reluctant to commit troops to Spain, so hired units from the Electorate of the Palatine to fulfill their obligation to provide troops.

I decided I was not going to create an army for a specific battle, but a more general one to cover the campaigns of 1709 and 1710. The figures are going to be from Pendraken, mainly their Marlburian range, supplemented by figures from some other ranges, like the Great Northern War, Seven Years War and League of Augsburg. The latter range are absolutely gorgeous little models, probably some of the best Pendraken produce.

So on to the first units, these are Catalan infantry. Due to real-life pressures I have found a lack of painting time of late so I have had some of the figures painted for me. These five battalions were painted by Turbil Miniatures.

                                                              5 Infantry battalions

                                       The foremost battalion is from La Ciudad Regiment

           The battalion on the left is from the Reales Guardias Catalanas - The Catalonian Guards