Classic Collections do battle at Cotswold Wargaming Day

I was very fortunate to be invited by Keith Flint (of "Honours of War" fame) to the very first Cotswold Wargaming Day held on 2 September  2018 in the small town of Northleach off the A40 in the mid-central Cotswold Hills in Gloucestershire.

Keith had organised this and had invited various wargamers he knows in the general Gloucestershire/ West Country area. I live only about 20 miles away from the venue but I met wargamers from a distance - at least Plymouth and Aldershot, and not so far away at Cirencester. Keith had the backing of veteran wargaming legend Stuart Asquith who proudly said he lives near enough to "walk home to lunch and back again". Stuart and Keith had put up prizes, and also with the sponsorship of Osprey Publishing to reward the game organisers for their efforts.  18 attended in various capacities and took part in five games, some ran twice during the day. A small £5 donation each covered hire of the spacious hall and included self service tea, coffee and biscuits all day!  Keith allowed me a nice amount of space for my display of military paintings, which I hope was of general interest, and I made at least one new acquaintance and client out of it as well as discussing a new commission in detail with another.

First a general look round and then a bit more detail of what interested me most.

Willz Harley's classic Spencer Smiths in an SYW Imagi-Nations game

WW2 in Normandy by Jon in 15mm using Battlegroup Panzer Grenadier rules

In the words of Bruce McCallum: "my own easy flight/squadron level air rules. Operation Cinzano, Italian biplanes v Hurricanes over Suffolk in November 1940, when you thought the Battle of Britain was over. (Spitfires & Me 109s in there too!)." Sorry I don't know any more about this apart from that Bruce was treating participants to caviar to snack on!!!!.

Display of original paintings by yours truly

Battle of Talavera 1809 using classic 1:76 scale Hinton Hunt figures, by Roy Boss, Mark Barnett and Stuart

Seven Years War using "Honours of War" rules in 28mm by Steve and Paul

Talavera in "20mm"

When the Cotswold Wargaming Day had originally been planned for March this year and had to be cancelled due to snow I had signed up for Roy and Stuart's classic "20mm" Napoleonic game for purely nostalgic reasons. As a lad when I first started Napoleonics Hinton Hunt figures were a market leader but a bit pricey for me and most of my metal collection was the cheaper and more bland Miniature Figures. So the idea of playing a full blown battle with just part of Roy's classic Hinton Hunt collection was too much to resist. (Apologies for the poor picture quality - the light in that part of the hall just did not like my camera.)

A bonus was that we were to use a 1970s style set of rules called "Muskets and Marshals" by Ian Spencer. Fistfuls of dice, saving throws, casualties in figures not points, simultaneous movement, non-scaled-but-fun weapons ranges - you get the idea.....So this was Talavera 70s style. That meant using historic orders of battle with each battalion at 24 figures and cavalry regiments of 12, lots of guns and the whole battlefield represented on a 10 x 6 table.

 An 8 inch musket range maximum compared to 36 inch artillery range seemed a bit disproportionate but I was here for nostalgic wargaming not a simulation, and it all worked pretty well. So, willing suspension of disbelief and get stuck into those 12 dice per infantry volley and enjoy the mayhem! (Hey, I love saving throws anyway!)

Stuart Asquith casts a practiced eye over the proceedings. See my open left flank in the foreground

I innocently asked if I could go British, and that was before I knew it was Talavera. Matt was busily putting out the French and the Allies had been  placed along the ridges, redoubt and city as if deployed. Although they were all in exposed column blocks on super custom made trays I did not query it - mine not to reason why when playing a new set of rules in someone else's game. And then almost by accident I had been nominated as Sir Arthur Wellesley and was having the orbat briefed verbally, loosely given a historic map as a guide, and a formal historical order of battle in a book in Spanish! To my (pleasant) surprise I was told the "deployment" was only approximate and I was to redeploy how I thought fit within the general historic areas. So, getting my head round the battalions, brigades and divisions at no notice proved a bit more of a challenge than the "old school" muck around that I had expected! Who says wargaming does not keep your brain nimble? Anyway I got there in the end and was quite pleased with my lines and use of reverse slope, except for the exposed left flank which Roy assured me would be secured later.

I won't be giving a blow by blow account but just enjoy the pics of the classic troops with some annotations.

Spanish hold the area of the redoubt

View along the French main line

Some game balance was given by the French dominance in artillery but the British
 had quite a lot of nifty rifle-armed skirmishers

Although I got the troops deployed Stuart turned up just in time to command the British troops on the big left flank hill. Player-umpire Roy had the Spanish, and kept most of the Allied cavalry in a central reserve position. Matt and Tim commanded the French.

Guards Brigade and other British take cover on the reverse slope but my guns
were horribly exposed to the big French battery

Even though fairly well back my central infantry were to suffer from those guns throughout

Tim launched a single regiment of Polish lancers to push back my riflemen...

.....which they did but fell foul of rifle fire and musketry from squares and
fell back sorely depleted

Matt's columns' suffered from Stuart's guns so the French attack voluntarily
halted along the stream valley so his own guns could fire over them

My lines held firm in the centre

Spanish gun crews in the redoubt got diminished by counter battery fire

Roy brought some of our cavalry reserve on the left flank (as he had promised) for Stuart to counter attack. At left a French column charged one of our battalions while it was in square and pushed it back in disorder....but that left the French vulnerable to counter attack which sent them packing. British guns were being smashed by the grand battery.

In the centre the attacking columns formed lines and began to blow my riflemen away by musket volleys

Stuart departed at lunchtime and left me to revive the left flank. Nice score by my Spanish
light horse saw off the French Dragoons and this began a significant start to an
Allied outflanking of the French right

French columns move forward again now the British guns have gone

And the grand battery starts to batter whatever infantry are exposed on the crest

Spanish troops continue to relax in Talavera so Roy can  concentrate on contesting
 the redoubt

Tim chose to attack across the river with cavalry.
I succeeded in forming an emergency square,,,,
.......and these were his melee dice scores!
Depleted cavalry regiment shown below

To give us more manoeuvring space and bring up reserves I advanced in the centre. Although the British infantry suffered they were making space for that cavalry regiment of Roy's at centre left of the picture. 

Sadly Roy's Spanish flee from the redoubt against good French troops (and below).

In the final act of the game Matt attacked all along the ridge and received only average
 casualties from my British lines. A couple of his battalions charged home and both won their melees
which posed difficult issues for a successful British outcome to the battle.

We had played from about 1030 to 1620 with a break for lunch and had to stop with the game hanging in the balance. There had been a lot more incidents than this space allows me to describe but essentially the battlefield ended up as four different zones:

• Allied left: Significant Allied cavalry strength meant a severe threat to the French flank and would inhibit further progress of the French attack. 
• Allied centre left: French dominance of the big hill but Matt's lead battalions were now weak and there were still some British reserve battalions
• Centre: Roy's cavalry had broken a leading French battalion at the stream so I was fairly confident that my strong reserves could repel any further French attempt in this area
• Allied centre right: The redoubt was lost and the French were storming through towards Talavera and still had uncommitted battalions.

I couldn't stay to hear Roy's pronouncement on a result but I think it would be something along the historical lines - French marginally beaten tactically and with significant losses, but Wellesley would deem that with most of his artillery and light troops shattered he would use his superior cavalry position to cover a strategic withdrawal and leave the Spanish to it! (Care to comment Roy?)

Great fun and a very relaxed atmosphere. Matt and I were almost trying to outdo each other in gentlemanly play!   At one point we couldn't decide so just diced for it. Pragmatic Roy came up and realised the rules did cover the situation but said "Why interfere when both players are happy with a dice decider!" Regular readers know I like a "serious" historical wargame in my own space but when I'm away from home it's OK to play just for fun isn't it? This game fitted the bill perfectly - history, nostalgic figures and rules and good company. Thanks to Roy, Matt, Tim and Stuart for making it possible. Also it confirmed my view that 1:76 (22mm) is an ideal size to refight a historic battle and I will be planning to redo my SYW armies accordingly sometime in the future.

Seven Year's War - Imagi-Nation game

I reported on Will Harley's successful gaming with his classic armies at the Kenilworth Wild Geese gathering in June and he felt able to travel North again for our benefit in Gloucestershire.

Will told me he fell into collecting Spencer Smith figures more or less by accident a few yeras ago and ended up buying many hundreds, and creating two Imagi-Nation armies. For those not familiar with SS they started life in the 1960s as bags of about 50 x "30mm" polythene figures all in the same marching position - grenadier and musketeer, with a few random officers and drummers. There were  three or four mounted poses and a few gunners and that was it. The figures lacked detail so could be painted pretty much as any 18th century types you wanted. Willz has recreated the ingenuity of those early years but applied a more sophisticated painting style and matt finish which gives the armies an appearance of elegance and polish comparable with any modern 28mm range.  He justly got public praise for this from Stuart Asquith who awarded Willz the prize for "Best Painted Armies".

Enjoy:

Classic-style big battalions

Above pictures during the first game of the day

Keith took part in the second game - both games used Jim Purky's rules (of Fife and Drum Miniatures)

The versatile dragoon figure - a particular favourite of Willz'

Keith Flint - without whom we would have neither the Cotswold Wargaming Day
nor the brilliant "Honours of War" rule book

Willz explains a point to Keith........

......and then spots the camera and you can't keep a straight face long next to Willz!

 The day also included a speech and prize giving by Stuart Asquith. There was a prize for "Most Gentlemanly Gamer" and who could argue against Bruce winning that - serving caviar with his game! Each of the games got a prize for some aspect of our hobby at which it excelled but Best Overall Game went to - Talavera, in which I was privileged to play Wellington, so I could not disagree it was a great choice.

Roy and Matt receive their prizes from Stuart

The magnificent Stuart Asquith Trophy which will be competed for next year

Many thanks from me to Keith and Stuart for organising such an enjoyable day not very far from home, and to Roy and Matt for putting up with me at Talavera.

Feedback has encouraged Keith to agree to organise CWD2 on 1st September 2019 at the same venue and he hopes to encourage more game organisers and players than for this inaugural venture. So if you live in the general Central/South -West of the UK and fancy organising something you can either get in touch with Keith directly or email me and I will pass it on.

I've been to The Burrow............

.......and survived!
Only kidding Colin, it was great!

Background
In our aging years the Duchess and I are trying to see bits of the UK we haven't been to before. The North East coast is part of that unknown but as we planned it we realised it was far too big and interesting for just one week's holiday, which was all the time we could spare this year. The attractions of the North Yorkshire Moors were obvious as we like walking. Whitby was alluring as an 18th Century shipbuilding port with many old streets and buildings intact (and fish and chip shops!), not least because, as the home port of Captain James Cook, it gave us another opportunity to investigate the Duchess' mariner ancestor. William Peckover, born at Aynho, Northamptonshire only about 15 miles from her Oxfordshire birthplace, sailed on all Cook's voyages of discovery as well as with Bligh on the Bounty, so that was an easy choice.  But secretly I knew that fellow partners in 18th century crime, Colin Ashton and Graham Cummings, live at Middlesborough and Redcar respectively, and so, with a little persuasion we included them in our NE coast meander.

The reaction of most Southerners I meet is "Middlesborough?" why do want to go to that xxxxxxxx? But in fact we were impressed, lots of modern development, no smoky factories or mines now, very green entry roads and suburbs, and easy access to all the above-mentioned attractions. Oh, and some of friendliest strangers you could ever hope to encounter (and that from a man who lives near big- hearted Stroud).

The Burrow
But the best attraction was Colin Ashton's new Burrow.

Situated in a lovely big house in a leafy suburb of Middlesborough Colin, well supported by his wife Katherine, has made a wargamer's haven. Many of my readers will be familiar with Colin's wonderful blog link here and he has done a very nice account of the battle he laid on for me to play, set in 1793 between the Revolutionary French and the Prussians and some Allies. Here it is Battle on the frontier.
It is a very good and almost accurate report of our day and he has done a far better job of describing it than I could; please take a look. So in this post I am concentrating mainly on the environment in which we played as it might give more insight into Colin the Wargamer and generally jolly nice bloke.

Here is his painting table

It sits in "Chris Gregg corner" so I'm very flattered that he surrounds
himself with my paintings while he works.........

.....obviously a man of excellent taste.....

......as I'm in good company - his many, many original Bob Marrion's populate another wall

That's his latest CG original over the doorway, then an Austrian flag I believe, and more Bob Marrion's

Oh.!.....I was there too! Under all the helmets

Just some of the many cabinets of figures...and there were
loads more boxes neatly stacked under the table and against the other wall.
At least SYW, Franco Prussian War, late 17th Century, besides the
very large Revolutionary War armies of which we used but a small part

Seeing inside The Burrow convinced me that Colin is not a
skirmish enthusiast but a "big battle" gamer, and he confirmed it.

A lovely Napoleonic cutter 

Revolutionary Wars Italians led by Pavarotti on the rocky hillock! Colin is known
for his many amusing vignettes - don't mention the Sheep!

Our Game

Just for balance here are some of my photos of the game in progress and very exciting it was too at times. We used General d'Armee rules and about 1200 figures and played from about 1115 till 1715 with 30 minutes for lunch break. Not quite a complete result but sufficient for a reluctant Colin to declare of himself "Well, I haven't won!". Lucky I had a mainly defensive objective and since I knew nothing of the rules just played it cool most of the time. However, Colin had mentioned in an off-hand way, how miffed he had been when one day a few years ago an opponent had given up after Move 2 reckoning he had no chance. So I wanted to be sure I kept my army intact as long as possible to show my host his efforts were worthwhile.

A beautiful regiment of early Chasseurs, I think Colin said he commissioned these specially

Specially commissioned or not those Chasseurs couldn't stand against a Large unit of Heavy cavalry

Colin weighs his chances attacking my heavy battery

View from my Horse guns on the right flank

But his infantry boldly went in on a quick move helped by multiple ADCs

My Chasseurs returned to the fray and luckily redeemed themselves

The 12 pdrs were overrun but my infantry intervene from the left

Here is another view - you see I had far too many good infantry intact to let him steal
those guns

My Light Cavalry eventually giving a good account of themselves

Overhead view of the action. Lots of red hearts indicate many casualties in Colin's other column

And at that point, with 5pm approaching, I charged with my Heavy Brigade. The Carabineers (beautifully painted by Mark Allen) cut through two German battalions and helped Colin come to his decision about the outcome

The end position. Every wargamer needs a windmill but Colin
already has three. I can make windmills to order if required, see Download sidebar
Windmill models

Detail of the force under my command

General d'Armee Rules

I had asked Colin if we could use the General d'Armee rules as Kevin and James are trying them out for whatever Napoleonic extravaganza they are planning after West Country Quatre Bras and I thought it would be useful locally to have that experience. So I must thank him for organising the game accordingly and conducting the whole thing with minimum effort for me. With such a competent host, and me in holiday mood anyway, I absorbed the bare minimum from the Playsheet and just let him guide me. We went at an efficient pace but had a lot to chat about besides the game action. So first impression is that it was very good for two wargamers to get an unambiguous result in 5 hours or so playtime with over 1000 figures, yet the feel of unit tactics was still evident. We used a lot of skirmishers, but the system is slick for that, and plenty of cavalry and infantry charges with lots of artillery support. Without me having tried to understand the rules in detail these are a  few observations for what they are worth:

• The ADC system is good but difficult for a newcomer to get the best out of it as there is a table to get to know in order to understand how to accumulate your ADCs to achieve specific effects (like extra charge distance or heavier artillery fire).
• The restraints of this command system were largely responsible for getting the game sorted in good time, as frequently brigades do not move much, if at all through lack of ADCs or poor dice.
• The artillery could be decisive close up but not necessarily so, and at long range were just a realistic irritant providing longer term attrition. Used in the numbers we had they were not a game changer
• Most results with melees, and particularly cavalry, seemed logical but were still fun and exciting.
• Defeated units that were not destroyed could recover and still be useful - a definite plus to me.
• The only thing I could not understand was that squares could only fire at short range and very reduced effect. Their value seemed to be almost entirely notional in pre-contact morale, making it difficult for the cavalry to charge home, which is reasonable. Also they were allowed to move quite far. I was left with a bit of a peculiar feeling over squares and it may be as I did not have the chance or inclination to read the rules in detail. Something to watch for carefully if we use them locally.

On balance a good set and I know they get a lot of praise from wargamers whom I respect. So good luck Colin and thanks for your wonderful efforts.

Crann Tara Miniatures

On the Sunday morning we were passing by Redcar on our way from Middlesborough to Whitby and Graham Cummings had agreed to entertain the Duchess and me for coffee. It was great to see his neat house and my original oil painting  "Jacobite Charge, 1745" on his wall. Graham willingly explained at length what it is like to found and run a model soldier company and we learned a lot even though we did not see his wargames room or garden office.  We were treated though, to see the super master figures of his new Saxon range, hot from the casters, see his blog Crann Tara Saxons.

And, as one does, I could hardly visit Graham without pre-ordering a little something....So this time it was his dismounted Hussar range and horse holders, more limbers and horses for my 18th Century artillery, and best of all, a regiment of French Mousquetaires. Here are some pics as I prepped and based them at the weekend. 

I will be having both 1st and 2nd Companies on grey and
black horses respectively

I particularly like the metal engraved standard, and although I have to paint it I
am saved the chore of selecting and downloading one from the Internet, resizing
 and printing it and sticking it in position.

I could not resist buying one of these dynamic ADCs clutching his tricorne

If you want some for yourself take a look here Crann Tara French cavalry

Graham also gave me two of the originally printed St Paul books which he was personally involved in producing since Neil Cogswell is a near neighbour.  Thanks for your generosity Graham and for your time.

None of this excitement for me would have happened without the now passed A Military Gentleman Forum, so thank you too to John Ray.