Warning Order - Issue #27

2010·4.1 MB·English

by  Wasatch Front Gaming Society

Command & Control:
Issue #27
Summer 2010 The Missing Element?
When you mention written order. fied by Empire. In this
command and control to kind of command system
I’m not sure if WRG
gamers you are bound to each division or corps
was the first to introduce
get one of two responses. would get an orders chit,
this concept, but it was
The first is a gamer saying then their objective or other
prevalent throughout the
that they don’t care about it detailed orders would be
70s and early 80s where
and that they really don’t written down. It didn’t
almost every rules set tried
care to play in any save much on time, but it
to introduce com-
games that have it. cut down some of the sub-
mand & control into
The second is the jective nature of written
gaming by using
gamer who wants orders.
written orders.
this in his games
Some of these were The next step was the
and is always look-
quite simple sys- big one that heavily influ-
ing for the next best
tems, requiring each enced rules for quite some
method to represent
unit to have an ob- time. This was the orders
it on the tabletop.
Y jective while other chit that is seen in games
Gamers seem to fall
T sets of rules almost like Johnny Reb and Com-
E into two categories on this
demanded that you write an mand Decision. Each unit
I subject; those who think
essay on what each unit received an order that was
C that command rules are
was supposed to do! on a cardboard counter and
O restricting them and they
flipped over so no one
S want to do whatever they Naturally, this was
could see it. They were
want during a game, or time consuming and VERY
G revealed by both sides at
r those who feel it is a way subjective. I can remember
N the same time which served
to represent the problems arguments breaking out all
I a number of purposes.
M e of coordinating forces on a the time about the way that First, it was quicker. Sec-
battlefield. some orders were struc-
A ond, there were no doubts
tured. Still, at the time it
G d The first miniatures about where a unit was
was all we had and with
wargames had little in the moving to or what it was
L way of command and con- most people in the hobby trying to do. Third, it took
A r trol. Most rules were home having plenty of time (6-10 command and control to a
C hour games were the rule,
grown and focused on whole new level as now
I not the exception!) not
O movement and combat. As every unit had to have or-
R much thought was given to
the hobby grew with more ders.
O it for quite awhile.
miniatures becoming avail-
T Many gamers, includ-
S able, new periods, etc., The next ing the members of my
I g rules started to be pub- evolution was club, jumped on this new
H lished and available to a the combina-
way of doing things and it
wider audience. This tion of chits
T surged across the country.
n brings us to the first step in and written
N Games moved faster, there
putting command and con- orders that
O was less arguing about
trol into our wargames; the would be typi-
R i what someone’s written
F
n

H
Inside this issue:
C Special points of interest:
T r Age of Reason Battle Report 4
Several battle reports for AOR, AOE, WMA
A
Warmaster Ancients Battle Report 6 Sharp Practice, and Phantoms.
S a
A Editorial 8 Review of Victrix French figures and sev-
W eral boardgames.
W Victrix review 9
Usual features and an editorial.
Age of Eagles Battle Report 10
Phantoms Battle Report 14
Cover: 10mm Seleucids and Indians by
Blitzkrieg Commander 2 Battle Report 16
Old Glory and Magistar Militum.
Command & Control… (cont.)
orders meant, and it appeared Units can then move or fire if suc- So where is this going? At the mo-
that gamers were enjoying the cessful and then attempts can be ment the trend tends to be towards less
games just a little bit more. made to give additional orders. command & control in our games. The
Regardless if you loved or Simple, effective, and it creates reasons for this are many, but some of the
hated this kind of command quite a lot of forward planning and more popular ones are speed of play,
system, it did have one lasting chaos when things go wrong, fewer rules, and letting players do what-
effect on the hobby and that which they will do in this game. ever they want to. Then there’s the eter-
was to end the use of written The system was expanded to his- nal cry about how what we do in no way
orders for 99% of the rules used toricals with Warmaster Ancients simulates real war, so why worry about
in miniature gaming. and Warmaster Medieval. The command & control? That naturally sets
game system was also ported over to off another series of arguments about are
The next step should be termed the
Blitzkrieg Commander and its modern we simulating history or just playing
Fire & Fury approach. In this system
and sci-fi cousins. Also, recently there checkers or chess with miniatures from
commanders roll on a table for each unit
was a modified version in the new Black different eras.
to see how far, if any, they move and/or
Powder rules.
rally from bad morale results. This The case, however, needs to be made
speeded up the command system even There’s only system left that we have- to as many gamers as possible that his-
more, incorporating it into the movement n’t talked about and that is having no tory is full of command blunders and
system so you are doing two things with command and control at all! This is the opportunities that have changed wars.
essentially one roll of the die. Some com- approach taken by two of the hobby’s Surely this needs to be represented on the
manders get certain modifiers and each most popular gaming systems, Flames of tabletop in some manner, even if it is as
type of commander (army, corps, divi- War and Warhammer Ancients. There simple as keeping units so many inches
sion, etc.) has a command range. This are also many other sets of rules that ei- from their leaders. You can argue about
system proved extremely popular in the ther don’t have this or it’s so basic (eg.; commander ratings, but if you are playing
90s and more recently everything needs to be kept within 6” of historical battles then you may get as-
can be seen by the huge each other) as to not mention it. signed leaders who weren’t very good
success of Age of Eagles. and it’s a challenge to do better. Troops
At the start of this article I mentioned
Still other sets of rules don’t always do as they are told, com-
that gamers fall into two camps on this
such as Battles For Em- manders don’t read maps properly, inter-
subject with not much in between. Those
pire use a similar system pret their orders wrong, or fail to act at
who are more concerned about the game
to F&F and I’ve seen all.
itself in terms of throwing out large num-
numerous sets of rules
bers of figs, having a free for all, and Yet, sometimes these
that use this system in
just plain fun despise command and things are missing from a lot
magazines such as the old
control systems with every fiber in of the games that we see
MWAN.
their being. They don’t like being played out on tables across
I probably should also mention card told that certain commanders weren’t the hobby. Games become
driven systems such as The Sword and very good and can’t activate as often chess like matches where
the Flame or Piquet. Although the cards or just because they failed a die roll everyone follows orders,
are used primarily for activating units, their units have to sit still for a turn. there’s no chance of mis-
they do function as a sort of command You could show them stacks of books takes, and everything comes
and control system. The other type of with examples where command and down to a handful of dice
command system is the “pip” system control problems led to an army’s defeat coming up one way or the other. Every-
where each player (s) get so many com- or commanders not interpreting orders, one has taken the best forces available for
mand points usually based on a roll of the but they will still not be swayed. their allotted points and there are no sur-
dice. The “pips” can be used to activate prises during the game. Tactics consist of
The second camp is that a game must
units, creating a randomness to the sys- each player trying to use the special rules
have command and control, even if it is
tem. This has been used in many sys- for their forces to their advantage, but not
limited, to have any credibility
tems, including DBA and Princi- having to react to situations that could be
as a set of historical miniatures
ples of War. beyond their control.
rules. The gamers who follow
The newest command and this path range from simple This is where command and control
control system comes to us in the C&C as in Warmaster to writing is the missing element in gaming. It can
way of a fantasy set of rules down a series of orders as in The provide new challenges, some surprises
called Warmaster. In this system Complete Brigadier. They usu- during the game, and makes gamers think
commanders are given a number ally have no use for games or a little more while playing. Hopefully
usually between 7 and 10 that has gamers that play with no com- we’ll see a resurgence of this important
to be rolled under with 2D6. mand and control. facet of warfare in future sets of rules.
Page 3 WARNING ORDER
Attack in the Center Age of Reason Battle Report
By now everyone has probably figured the large number of
out that Age of Reason is our “fall back” Russian batteries. As
game when we can’t determine what we the Prussian player, I
should play that week or when there are went with a more
last minute changes and we need to set conservative ap-
something up quickly. AOR is also our proach , with cavalry
most played game, with probably well on both flanks and
over 100 games by now since we discov- two infantry brigades
ered the rules back in the early 90s. in the center. My
thinking was to keep
Well, this was another of those
the flanks busy and
times where we needed a quick game
overwhelm the center
because of last minute changes, so we
where two of the three
rolled on the terrain tables, chose 18
objectives were lo-
strength points, selected our forces and
cated (the crossroads
set up. We brought along Russians and
and the village). The
Prussians, so the battle would once again
Russians used a more
feature the superior Prussian cavalry and
thoughtful approach,
massing their cavalry on the left and and got quickly shelled by artillery, then
guarding the side with the marsh with fell back. The Prussian and Russian in-
just an infantry brigade. Their plan was fantry brigades maneuvered towards each
to seize the walls around the farm and other, formed lines, then swapped some
then entrench for a defensive game. artillery fire, but neither sided was strong
enough or willing to go on the offensive.
Naturally, I blundered right into their
Because of the deteriorating position on
trap with my attack up the center! The
the Prussian right one of the two cavalry
game started off badly for the Prussians
units began to move back towards the
with a massive cavalry battle on the
right.
Prussian right (7YW games always
have massive cavalry battles!). The While the right flank was in disarray
Prussians held their own at first, but and the left at a stalemate, this meant the
then reinforcing Russian units tilted the main action would occur in the center.
battle and the Prussians broke and fled. The Russians quickly moved two battal-
infantry mobility against the more numer- Before the Russians could rally and flank ions up to the stone walls surrounding the
ous Russian artillery. the Prussian lines, however, the Prussians farm fields with one battalion in reserve.
counterattacked with a fresh cavalry unit They also posted two batteries of artillery
Both sides ended up with two brigades
and artillery, keeping the victorious Rus- on either side of the walls which created a
of two cavalry units each, three infantry
sian cavalry temporarily at bay. very strong position.
brigades each which consisted of 3-5
battalions in each brigade, and artillery. The Prussian left did not see much The Prussians would attack this posi-
The Prussians did get one siege gun and action throughout the game. A Prussian tion with one infantry brigade in the cen-
one horse battery, but this was offset by cavalry unit tried to slip around the flank ter and two battalions from the infantry
Page 4 WARNING ORDER
Attack in the Center Age of Reason Battle Report (cont)
brigade on the far right, which was al- sian infantry battalion broke and ran. if the Prussian attack would succeed and
ready bending back with a few units in Now it was time for the main event. The the Russian army would be split in half.
square in case the Russians decided to two Prussian grenadier battalions formed
The Prussian grenadiers, however,
charge that position. The central Prussian into line and moved into close musket
worn down by musket and artillery fire,
infantry brigade had two battalions of range. The Russian and Prussian infantry
plus the melee, had enough and fell back.
grenadiers and the heavy artillery, which stood there for two turns and exchanged
The remnants of the brigade were too
formed into columns and quickly fire, creating a lot of casualties. Then the
weak to press the attack and the Russians
marched to the attack. Prussian grenadiers launched a bayonet
moved back to the walls. With a stale-
charge over the wall in the face of artil-
Just inside of artillery range one of the mate on the flanks and the Prussian cen-
lery and musket fire.
regular infantry battalions deployed into ter severely beaten the Prussians would
line and the rest of the brigade was Amazingly, one of the Prussian have to withdraw from the board and the
screened by the Prussian light troops. grenadier battalions got over the wall and game was deemed a Russian tactical vic-
The Russian artillery opened up and both drove off the defenders. Quickly they tory.
sides began a firefight at the stone walls. tried to reform while the remaining bat-
It was a fun and exciting game which
The Prussians brought up two heavy bat- talions of the brigade tried to reinforce
ended up pretty good considering so little
teries plus the siege battery to begin the attack. However, the Russian reserve
time was spent in preparation! It also
pounding the walls and trying to keep any battalion now moved up to stop the
shows you the problem of playing with
additional Russian reinforcements from grenadier attack while the Russian artil-
too many rules as I completely forgot to
coming in. lery batteries in the area started to shell
use the Prussian special rules, supports,
the flanks of the Prussian attack into the
By this time the Prussian lights had etc., so I could have played better. Still, it
center. For one brief moment it looked as
been shot to pieces and the leading Prus- was a great game!
ISSUE #27 Page 5
Successors in India WMA Battle Report
Whenever we need to set up a quick to turn 2.
game due to last minute changes, we
The Indian center now moved out en
increasingly turn to Warmaster Ancients.
masse, followed by some good rolls on
Not only do we find the game fun to play,
the Indian right. The Indian left still had
but most of the battles go down to the last
problems, but the chariots and cavalry
turn or die roll. Also, it looks great on
were now at least in position to threaten
the tabletop!
the Seleucid center or counterattack on
Well, this was another of those times, that flank. The Seleucids used their light
where we had some late cancellations and cavalry to drive back the Indian cavalry
needed something created 24 hours be- and the remaining Seleucid units moved
fore our regular gaming time. Luckily, I up in the center. There was some archery
was almost finished with my 2,000 point exchanges, but no serious damage to ei-
Indian army so we decided to do a slug- ther side.
fest between the Seleucids and Indians.
in terms of attacks and hits, the Indian The action got underway when the
4,000 points on the table, particularly
force made up for this by sheer numbers. Indian chariots charged and chewed up a
with the cheap infantry the Indians have
Seleucid light cavalry unit, which in turn
means a lot of stuff to deploy and move! Both sides decided to mass most of
was defeated by yet another Seleucid cav
their infantry in the center with one unit
The Seleucid army consisted of the unit. However, this one strayed to close
of elephants each in support. The Indians
usual mandatory phalanxes with two to the Indian lines and was torn apart by
put their cavalry on the left while the
units of Guard and one of those converted archery fire. The remaining Indian cav
Seleucids put their heavy cavalry
to Hypaspists, giving them a solid core
on their left as well. The Indian
that could defeat almost anything on the
plan was to skirmish on the left,
board. With the infantry came four units
hold or force the center, then
of archers, three skirmishers, some
strike the killing blow on the
Thorakites, and some light infantry.
right. The Seleucids were going
There was also one unit of elephants
to skirmish on the right, hold on
backed by several units of heavily ar-
the left, and put everything into
mored cavalry and few light cavalry
an attack at the center.
units. Altogether it was a very impres-
sive force with excellent infantry and After going over the elephant
cavalry, plus several light units to screen rules and watching the Seleucid
the main force. players trying to familiarize them-
selves with the wide variety of
The Indians were basically a horde of
units in their army, we were ready
very average troops. There were twelve
to start. It was decided to go until
units of infantry, five archers (should
one side or the other broke, with
have had eight which is mandatory-but units were still having problems moving
the Seleucid break point at 11 and the
they weren’t finished yet!), four units of up as the Seleucid skirmish cav kept driv-
Indians at 13.
skirmishers, chariots, several units of ing them back, then running away!
cavalry, and two units of elephants. Al- The Indians had difficulty on the first
Both sides were still having problems
though the entire force was very average turn, barely moving in the center and only
getting their larger and more heavier for-
about half of the cavalry on
mations up to the front lines. The Seleu-
the Indian left moved at all.
cids in particular just could not coordi-
The plan to get out quickly
nate their actions on the left where they
and engage the Seleucid
had a decisive edge in cavalry.
pikes before their heavy cav-
alry came into play went By turn five both sides were about
down the drain on the first ready for the big battle in the center.
turn! The Seleucids for their Both flanks were still in doubt for both
part didn’t fare much better. sides, but they would have very little
However, their skirmish cav- impact on the main event that was shap-
alry on the Seleucid right ing up in the center. So far, the masses of
was able to move almost to Indians were not able to make their num-
the halfway point of on the bers felt, but their average cavalry was
board. Not much else oc- proving to be...well, average! The next
curred on the first turn, so on turn is when things really got going.
Page 6 WARNING ORDER
Successors in India (cont.) WMA Battle Report
On the Seleucid left the Guard cavalry Both sides watched the cream of their played. You have numbers and I mean
and cataphracts got into the fighting, army disintegrate as the pikes did tremen- you have a lot of stuff! If I had any en-
causing serious damage, but took some dous damage, but on a few critical pur- ergy left after painting up the hordes I’ve
back when the elephants on that flank suits failed to finish off Indian units already finished I could have painted and
charged them. Both sides had skirmish- which charged back and hit the pikes substituted several more infantry units for
ers, light infantry, and archers on that hard. The Indians were able to flank one one of the elephant units and had an even
flank that added to the carnage. When all of the phalanx units and rolled it up, cre- larger horde! The advantages are a large
was said and done, the Seleucid heavy ating a serous problem for the Seleucids. number of archers, elephants, and did I
cavalry was wrecked, but the Indians had The Seleucid elephant unit charged in, mention numbers? The problems are the
suffered severely as well. obliterating the first Indian unit con- cavalry are very average, the infantry are
tacted, but running into a wall with the unarmored and average, and it’s tough to
On the Indian left the situation was a
second one behind it. get everything moving.
stalemate. The Indians had lost two cav
units and the chariots, but the Seleucid The battle seesawed back and forth for When designing the Seleucid force
light cavalry was not strong enough to several turns until the Seleucids finally you have so many options that it’s diffi-
force the issue. This left the center and broke. The Indians were on the verge of cult to create a balanced force. The pikes
after turns of maneuvering the decisive breaking as well and it went down to the did their job, but I could have replaced
part of the battle began. last few die rolls of the tenth turn! The the elephant unit with more cavalry and
Indian army had taken a fearful beating, tried to win that way.
The pike phalanxes crashed into the
but emerged victorious.
Indian infantry brigades with a unit of Overall, it was a very fun and exciting
elephants attached. The Indians recoiled, The Indian army in WMA is definitely game that looked as great as it played!
then counterattacked with more brigades! one of the more interesting armies we’ve
ISSUE #27 Page 7
Glossy Rules=Good Rules? Editorial
The past year has definitely seen a rules sets kept coming out, the trend had proofreading errors, rules that don’t make
change in how rules are produced for the been broken and only the ones with high much sense, and even people who sup-
miniatures hobby. With the advent of production values sold well. You could port them have their problems with the
new rules such as LaSalle, Black Powder, have come up with a clever set of sci-fi rules. The verdict is almost unanimous
Napoleon, and more, the eternal argu- skirmish rules that was better than that it is a beautiful set of rules, but not
ment over whether glossy, high produc- WH40K, but if it was printed in a WRG very good for a game.
tion values or bare basics rules writing is style booklet then you would be lucky to
The next few would be the Blitzkrieg
best has taken center stage yet sell 1/100th(and this is being gen-
Commander series of rules which in-
again. erous!) what WH40K was.
cludes a modern as well as a sci-fi based
This is nothing new and it This is at the point where the set using the same game system. Again,
has been going on for quite arguments about rules quality here is a set of rules that is well produced,
some time. When I began really began in earnest. Sure, has plenty of pictures, army lists for al-
gaming back in the mid 70’s there had been arguments in gam- most everything under the sun, and if you
there were a lot of rules sets ing magazines for a decade or so know how to play BKC, then the others
around, but the production about what was in the rules, but are pretty easy to get into. Here the publi-
values compared to today’s never about if the production val- cation quality works, basically because
sets are almost primitive. ues made the rules better. This the rules are playable. Now you may not
Rules like the first edition of divided the gaming community like the rules, the scale, or how command
Harpoon, the Newbury rules, into basically three camps. The & control is presented, but many do and
WRG, and more were nothing more than first who will not buy anything that has the system has been successful.
pages of text in magazine/booklet form glossy, high production values, but in-
So far we have one that didn’t suc-
with a cardboard cover that had little to stead prefer the older style rules. The
ceed, one that did and here’s one that the
no artwork on it. Inside were few, if any second group who will buy almost any-
jury is still out on. That would be Black
diagrams, pages and pages of endless thing shiny and new on sight, and finally
Powder from Warlord. It is definitely
text, and if you were lucky maybe a play- the third group who will buy whatever set
one of, if not the most beautiful rulebooks
sheet with the combat tables and move- of rules they need for a pe-
that has ever been made. Hardbound
ment charts on it. riod. Of these, the first
and with numerous color pictures, it is
group is definitely the
Now this may come as a shock to to- gaming eye candy at its best. The rules,
smallest and the second is
day’s gamer, but yes, we survived this however, are written in a style that is
the largest as obviously
and actually played games with these friendly to some and condescending to
someone is buying these
rules! There were some good ideas and others. The game play to some is fun
sets of rules!
some not so good ideas in the rules, but and exciting, while others find it mind-
like it or not, many of those rules pro- But the question re- less and too generic.
vided the basis for what the hobby is mains, are we getting the
So, what does the quality of the rules
today. I think the changes came when rules we want or a nicely
have to do with sales? Apparently not
first Heritage put out its Knights & Magic produced book that has
much. All three systems had brisk sales,
boxed set, then the first Johnny Reb rules, some good ideas and lots of nice pic-
which to my mind proves that gamers are
then the Complete Brigadier. Here were tures? With some sets of rules approach-
at a stage where they’ll buy pretty much
rules sets in boxed format, with multiple ing the $55-60 per copy level, this is an
anything. If Black Powder or Napoleon
books inside with diagrams and even appropriate question. Are you paying for
were printed in just B&W text with tan
pictures. At that time it didn’t seem that eye candy or content quality? Does the
colored cardboard covers, would they
revolutionary, but it set the standard and production quality and the quality of the
have sold more than 150 copies? Proba-
soon other companies followed. rules go hand in hand? I think that in
bly not. Instead, we get a lot of new rules
some cases there have been very good
Then a company called Games Work- sets that are all around $40-50 each and
sets of rules that have come out lately and
shop got into the act. They were already are bombarded by those who bought the
some that have not been so good. Let’s
getting things going with their White rules on forums about how great they are,
take a look at a few.
Dwarf magazine and Warhammer rules, even before anyone has played them!
but the original Warhammer 40K Rogue The first example of a set that has not Gamers need to look carefully before
Trader book opened the floodgates. Here matched production values with quality buying, maybe even playing a game or
was a hardbound book with a ton of art- of rules writing is Napoleon by Foundry. two to see if they are any good. In my
work, rules, ideas, and a lot more. Natu- Launched with great fanfare, it is a well opinion it’s the only way to keep these
rally, it took off like wild fire and soon produced, slick presentation with lots of publishers and authors honest to make
followed the Adeptus Titanicus boxed things for the gamer to look at. However, sure that proofreading and extensive
set, supplements, and on and on. This that’s about where it ends in regards to playtesting have been done. If not, we
was the new standard and although other how the rules were written. Numerous have more of this to look forward to.
Page 8 WARNING ORDER
Victrix French 1807-1812 Product Review
a set of wargame rules, and
several flags. There is also
a painting guide on the box
and along with the cover it
should give even those not
well versed in the period a
good idea about how to
paint the figures. All in all,
it’s pretty hard to complain
about the price! The
Our gaming group has been playing wargame rules are too basic
Sharp Practice for awhile now and we at and I doubt that anyone
first used 28mm lead figs. However, would play them except if
with the advent of the various plastic you had no concept about
boxed sets we now have multiple units of Napoleonic gaming.
the Perrys and Victrix. I’ve owned ar-
You get a wide variety
mies made of plastic throughout my
of heads, arms, legs, plus
wargaming hobby life, including an Air- plastic figures and go together with few
backpacks and torsos/legs. While you
fix ACW army and plenty of WW2 problems. Once primed they take paint
can make 60 figures, you are limited in
forces from Matchbox, Airfix, and Atlan- well and when finished they look just as
what kind of figures you can make. For
tic, so I’m familiar with the problems/ good as many metal figures. The figures
example, you get around a dozen or so
advantages of plastic armies. have a slender look and feel to them,
elite troops, but you could not make an
which is what you usually get with plas-
I decided to try a box of Victrix entire box of grenadiers or voltigeurs as
tics and models. There are no rifle straps
French for 1807-1812 to add to our forces you simply don’t have enough of the
that would scale out to a yard wide or
for the 1812-1814 era that we’ve been right parts. You also need to pay attention
rifles the size of telephone poles! The
playing scenarios for. You can get a box to the finer points in the instructions
faces come out well with standard ink/
of Victrix for anywhere between $32-40, about which parts (arms and legs) will
shading techniques and when finished
depending upon the supplier. produce certain figures. Although you
they look good in unit sized formations.
don’t have to follow this and can kit bash,
You get a pretty good sized box with a
it may save you some time in fitting if You get plenty of line figures, several
lot of stuff in it which makes it a pretty
you’re doing large numbers. officers, elite troops, drummers, and even
good value. The box has enough parts to
heads with bearskins, so there’s plenty of
make 60 28mm figures, plus instructions, On the positive side these are hard
options for using the figures to make
almost any kind of force for any rules
system. I also liked the separate back-
packs as it made painting the straps on
the figures and packs much easier.
Now, time for the final judgment and
I’m torn on this one. Victrix figures are a
good value for the money and you get
plenty of stuff in the box, so no com-
plaints there. The figures paint up well,
look good on the tabletop, and hold their
own against comparable metal figures in
terms of size, proportions, quality, etc.,
but are definitely lighter. My big issue
was with the assembly time. Hunting for
the right arms, heads, etc., then gluing
everything took time, at least double or
triple the time to prep metal figs. When
doing my Russian battalion of the same
size (using OG figs) I was painting figs
way before even having half of these
assembled! Overall, good figures and
options, but the assembly is not going to
be for everyone.
ISSUE #27 Page 9
Approaches to Corunna Age of Eagles Battle Report
We’ve been playing Age of Eagles fights broke out with the French taking
since it began as a playtest set of rules the worst of it at this point. The British
a long time ago. However, we have were still moving up forces and by the
never tried anything for the Peninsula, end of the fourth turn all reserves had
but now that we have some British been committed to holding a line across
forces it was time to try out this inter- the width of the board. The lone British
esting part of the Napoleonic Wars. artillery battery had been manhandled
into position on the corner of a hill and
The scenario was loosely based
started to shell the approaching French.
upon some of the delaying actions
outside of Corunna during the Penin- The French attack up the road on the
sula campaigns. I say loosely because French right ran into stiff opposition and
we set the game up in a hurry and were a number of charges were repulsed. Still,
short several villages, streams, and the British were giving ground and trying
needed more rough terrain! We did to make it until nightfall where they
The French led off the attack by try-
the best with what we had at the time, but could fall back to the ships. In the center
ing to get the cavalry to go off road,
it did show us that if we’re going to be the French launched several more attacks
which didn’t end well. Both brigades
playing a lot more actions in Spain then that produced a stalemate. The French
were disordered and barely moved. The
we needed to invest in more rough ter- had numbers though, and were gradually
infantry, however, moved quickly to the
rain! The forces were from an actual wearing down the smaller British bri-
attack, trying to get through the terrain as
order of battle, but we needed to make gades. On the French left the infantry
best they could and since it was Reserve
some changes to the terrain. were in position to begin a
movement they
series of attack to try to
The French force consisted of the were able to get
flank the British position
equivalent of three infantry divisions, a going a little
on the main hill. The artil-
few batteries of artillery, and three cav- easier. The Brit-
lery was finally deployed
alry brigades. The British force had sev- ish, meanwhile,
and even though the cav-
eral brigades of infantry in the front line, spent most of the
alry were still far behind
with a few in reserve or moving up to the first few turns
the French were ready to
front. There was only one battery of ar- trying to get the
make the final push.
tillery and no cavalry. The British reserves up and
needed to hold until nightfall, then fall trying to deter- The British had moved
back down the road to Corunna and board mine where the everyone up into good
the waiting ships to achieve a victory. main French defensive positions, but
attack would hit. were short in artillery and
Although the British brigades were
manpower. The rough terrain was help-
smaller than their French counterparts The French struggled across the first
ing, but the disparity in numbers was
and lacking cavalry along with artillery, river and started to move towards the
beginning to show. There were several
their defense was helped by the rough British line. One of the British brigades
brigades that were almost spent and with
terrain. Anything off the roads for artil- counterattacked, driving the French back
no artillery to break up the French at-
lery and cavalry was treated as rough to the other side of the small river, but
tacks, the British position was looking as
(basically 1/3 of their movement), so they they in turn were forced back by num-
if it was in big trouble.
wouldn’t be able to go anywhere quickly. bers. Across the line a number of fire-
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