I'm going to call this one finished, for now anyway: the Victorian Science Fiction Prussian army for HotT (Hordes of the Things).
It is composed of : 3 x airboats 2 x flyers
3 x riders
2 x artillery
6 x warband
8 x shooters
3 x blades (one of which is intended as the general)
2 x hordes
1 x hero
1 x magician
1 x behemoth
The army is based around two boxes of Airfix 20mm WW1 German infantry. These are old molds, and the flash was profuse on some of the figures.
The blade general element on the right
The two most recently completed shooter bases, using some of the many prone figures in the box. I'd run out of kneeling and standing firing figures (although I still have plenty of the infantry carrying the man pack flamethrowers)
I liked the idea of prone riflemen firing while taking fire orders from their NCO who has his head up
The Kaiser's Aerial Navy: 3 airboats, and two flyers
I may see the inspiration for one or two other elements as time goes by. This lot totals 73 points, so for Big Battle games there isn't too much choice.
We all love a good clichē, don't we, and if your interest lies in the First World War, then you have rich pickings. While there has been a lot of revisionist history published since the 1960s that attempts to debunk many of these they still persist, and Rowan Atkinson's representation of the classic WW1 British clichē is one of the best.
I have just finished reading the first volume of what is perhaps the most thorough debunking of some of the myth surrounding world war 1 that I have seen: 'Zero Hour Z Day 1st July 1916', by Jonathan Porter. I was gifted the first two volumes which, upon arrival, came with a courier sticker that declared their net weight at 2.6kg, so these are weighty tomes in both the intellectual and the physical senses.
This first volume analyses the operations of XIII Corps operating between Maricourt and Mametz, on the British right adjoining the French army. XIII Corps has the distinction of being the only Corps to have achieved all of its objectives for 1st July in a battle that has been analysed to the nth degree in the nearly 110 years since. Porter begins with an overview of the situation with Fourth Army and the formulation of its offensive plan. He includes in this preliminary stage an analysis of the geology of the area of operations, an issue that had a significant impact on the Corps' success. He gives a detailed breakdown of the opposing forces, the preparations, the preliminary bombardment (if you want to know how many shrapnel vs HE shells a battery fired, this is your place to go), and a detailed description of that first day of the battle for each battalion, brigade, and division in the corps.
He makes extensive reference to unit war diaries in a way I have not seen done before, even though this primary source material has been available for most of the time that has passed since. These references provide an unprecedented level of detail, and it is here that Porter debunks much of the myth. The narrative is also provided with plenty of colour with Porter's use of fragments from personal diaries and letters, and of course the obligatory official histories.
Porter's almost hour by hour narrative provides an extraordinary level of detail. Such is the detail that even before I had reached his final chapter offering his analysis and interpretation, I had arrived at several conclusions of my own about how the Corps achieved this level of success. Included in my thinking were issues of thorough preparation and rehearsal, innovative use of what in modern parlance we call minor tactics (tactics at section, platoon, and company level),enabled by a high level of trust in the initiative of junior leaders especially, and the emphasis on innovative use of lewis gun and stokes mortar teams. I had not realised how flexibly the 3" stokes mortar batteries had been employed once the battle began.
In discussing these minor tactics for example, in his chapter on 53rd Brigade Porter says:
It would be suicide to advance in extended line so a change of tactic was established. Sections and half sections would advance in short rushes using whatever cover was available - shell craters or hollows. While one section moved, another would provide covering fire. (P 407)
In modern parlance we'd call this 'bounding'.
The issue of the subsurface geology of the battlefield I found fascinating. In the XIIIth Corps area south of Mametz , the soil was "a deep layer of top soil and/or clay and then chalk" whereas north of their area there was a shallow layer of topsoil with underlying hard chalk. The chalk had the effect of protecting deep bunkers, whereas the topsoil and clay does not. Hence many of the deep bunkers dug to protect troops of the German garrison were collapsed or rendered unusable by the preliminary bombardment. An additional effect of this was that the defenders withdrew most of their troops to the third and fourth trench lines, leaving sentries, and some MMGs, to give early warning and hold up any attack until it reached their main defensive line. Combined with the effective wire cutting bombardments, this meant that many units gained quick access to the German first lines. From there, where further attack across the open was halted by small arms and MG fire from the main bodies of troops, bombing parties (specialists armed primarily with mills grenades) proceeded to fight down communication trenches, clearing as they went, in order to then attack the main defences.
In his final analysis Porter ascribes XIII Corps' success to five key factors:
Command and leadership, from the Corp and divisional commanders, right down to platoon and section leaders. Each divisional commander had created a leadership culture that emphasised individual initiative, and repeated and thorough rehearsal meant that every man knew what was expected of him, what he had to do and where he needed to be, so that when successive layers of leadership became casualties, those below were capable of stepping in to fill the void.
Training and rehearsals. Porter shows that XIII Corps units spent on average several more days in rehearsals than units elsewhere in Fourth Army
Special weapons and mining, from the use of mines of up to 5000lbs of explosive to livens flame projectors, gas, and 4" stokes mortars laying planned smoke screens (something I'd not previous been aware of)
Innovative tactics which included specialist teams as described previously, but also in deployment in the attack which mean that reserves were right where they needed to be when needed
Artillery support, which included several batteries of French 220 mm mortars. An essential part of the artillery fire plan had included what proved to be a very effective programme of wire cutting from the many batteries of 18pdrs, and the 2" stokes mortars, and effective counter battery work which reduced the opposing German artillery to near (but not quite) impotence
Porter uses a combination of text, contemporary maps and aerial photographs, and perhaps most helpfully modern day oblique colour photographs to describe and explain the actions of the day down to individual platoons and sections. This combination makes it very easy to understand how action across the battlefield unfolded during the day.
An example of a modern oblique photographic guide to each attack
Despite XIII Corps' success, there was still an awful toll, 6100 officers and ORs were killed or wounded on the day. John Steinbeck said "All war is a symptom of man's failure as a thinking animal", and whether 1 man or 100 men, the cost is too much. However when compared with other action in the war, XIII Corps came out of the day comparatively lightly. Porter gives many of the men are given faces, and where known he acknowledges the places of their eventual burial, although the final resting places of too many men remain unknown, to be commemorated only on the enormous Thiepval memorial.
The books are printed on high quality stock which in itself also contributes to their physical weight. My only criticism is that the text would have benefited from a good editor. There are typographical errors and at times awkward sentence construction that a good editor would have picked up (although from my own publication experiences authoring six books I am only too well aware that even professional editors miss things). That should not however put you off purchasing a copy. If you have any interest in the 'real oil' of what went down on that first day of the Somme, this is a damned fine investment. Thank you Mr Porter for an invaluable contribution to the scholarship of the first world war. Now to read the second volume, and apparently there are more to come.
Still pottering with the VSF Prussians for HotT, and I turned my mind to a couple of flyers. In imagining these I thought that perhaps the Prussians had stuck with the mechanical wing approach to one-man flyers rather than trying such things as rocket or jet packs. So I took a look at some da Vinci drawings, and came up with these.
They are based on this figure from the Airfix WW1 Germans.
The wings are made from light card cut to shape, and scored heavily before painting to represent the 'ribs', the articulation if you prefer.
Given the number of 3 point elements I have chosen to make (again reflecting the idea that the Prussians had opted for an airborne navy with airboats, and artillery), I felt the need for some 1 point elements to allow me to balance things up where necessary. Lurkers simply don't 'feel' Prussian to me. However a commenter on a previous post on the HotT iOGroup (thanks Terry) suggested some Landwehr. So, finally a use for the Airfix marching figures, and those 'casualties' as well, in a couple of horde bases.
I think the army is at about 67 points, so not too far to go to reach the 72 point mark for Big Battle.
I've had an idea for an ironclad 'behemoth' for the Prussian VSF army (for Hordes of the Things) for a while now. I'd been inspired by this sort of thing, but wanted to put my own unique 'spin' on it. I ended up with this:
I began my mapping out what mathematicians call a 'net'..
This was then cut from light card
The 'chimney' (after all, it's VSF, steam driven) came from a small piece of card tubing.
The wheels were left over from some colonial British guns
Applique armoured plates were added. The boiler arrangement is more small card tubing, and the 'condenser coils' are old biro springs. Finally a few boxes and hatches were added.
Now, I'm not that happy with it. I don't feel that it captures the aesthetic I was after, the Prussian land ship look that ought to be more sophisticated than this. However it will do for now, and I did enjoy the creative processes. So that gives 61 of the 72 points needed for Big Battle HotT.. getting there. Maybe some Hordes to even out the numbers, and perhaps some more blade.
The last few weeks have been a little light on the 'gaming front, as other aspects of life took precedence. However things have just started to settle back into their more usual rhythm. Last week I took part n another DBA evening at Keith's where 7 of us played a series of DBA games. I was a little too preoccupied to take any photos. You can find Keith's account of the evening here.
This week I took part in the play testing a new scenario for Adrian and Jon's next Volley and Bayonet scenario book: Seneffe, 1674. A wagon load of gold, used as bait by the Prince of Orange in order to bring the French army to battle, must be driven off the board. A very cool scenario, something very different from the usual game as forces entered the board and the battle escalated. The figures are Adrian's beautiful 15mm Dutch and French.
The following evening four of us got together to play some 24 point Hordes of the Things (HotT) games.
Andy's Weird World war 1 Germans and my British
British behemoth attacks German blade
Orc knight (chariot) general about to meet his end at the hands of Murray's Dwarven blade and hero
First outing for the new VSF Prussian, featuring 3 airboats (it was never going to be an easy army to use)
The airboats
Muray's new Ratmen airboat... an inspired piece
Ratmen blades, and sider riders, all old GW figures repurpose for HotT
The stronghold for Murray's Ratmen
All in all, a nice way to ease back into the weekly 'gaming rhythm.
I'd argue that few if any ideas are ever truly original, and this one most certainly isn't. It was a participant in 'The Miniature's Page' forums who made a suggestion about the incorporation of the Prussian Death's Head Hussars into the VSF Prussian army. The poster's suggestion was around a suitable idea for a hero base, but I took it onboard as a suggestion for some bases of riders.
The poster suggested that a paint conversion from the old Airfix 1/76th Hussars might work, and having a few figures left over from a project from the 1970s (yes, that's 50 years ago.... the figures are that old, and I am even older than that)). In 1975, new 'gamer on the Christchurch scene, Russell, had suggested that you could create a Hun army by the judicious application of the craft knife to Airfix Hussars, so that's what I did (it was the days of WRG Ancients 3rd Edition, and limited figures available anywhere).
Some of the mass of Huns that these days serve as riders for a large nomadic barbarian HotT army, but which could equally serve as Huns in DBA etc
They are a bit crude, but back in the day they did the job ...
But I digress .....
While the British Hussar figures are not accurate representations of the Prussians, this is fantasy 'gaming, so they can be anything I like, and no-one can argue. It's my imagination, my army. So here they are, three bases of HotT riders, a representation of the Death's Head Hussars.
These bases provide some land based mobility for the army over and above that provided by the three airboats. That now makes points 53 points, so 19 to go to reach the Big Battle HotT 72 points ... getting there.
I can still recall seeing the photos and reviews of those Greenwood and Ball Napoleonics, and early Peter Laing 15mm figures for the Marlburian Wars, in my monthly copies of Meccano Magazine or Military Modelling to which I subscribed as a teenager, feeling the inspiration to refight some of the battles of the period, although I only knew a few of the names at the time - Blenheim, Malplaquet. As a family we had little money, and the foreign currency and import restrictions in New Zrealand at the time were such that the very idea of buying figures from overseas was barely even a consideration, merely a dream.
My wargames career began therefore with the inevitable Airfix figures that were available from the local cycle shop, and so it went over the years. My introduction to the Volley and Bayonet rules began in 1999 when Brent introduced me to Adrian Powell, newly arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand, with this amazing array of beautifully painted 15mm figures for all sorts of 'horse and musket' sub periods.
In the decades since, we have played battles ranging from the War of the Spanish Succession to the Boxer Rebellion, all with these same rules. The capacity of the rules to absorb subtle sub period tweaks, and to give a very accurate feel of battles of each period, has in all that time never ceased to amaze me.
The hankering for the Battles of Marlborough has never really left me though, even though I still haven't assembled and painted my own army for any of the combatants.
It has therefore been a real pleasure to help Adrian and Jon to play test some of the nineteen carefully researched scenarios that they have assembled in this their first wargames scenario collaboration.
Each scenario has been carefully researched. Both authors are experienced 'gamers and researchers. Adrian has been researching and assembling scenarios for Volley and Bayonet for several decades. His career as an architect is also on show with the beautiful maps included for every scenario, each of which is a major piece of research in itself. They related to me numerous occasions in which they had had to reconcile inaccurate maps and battle accounts, referring to real life geography to assist them in getting the maps as close as seems possible to the location at which each battle occurred.
Jon brings to the table a career as a research scientist including many years of work in scientific publishing, disciplines that he has applied very effectively to this work too. They comment in the introduction "In each scenario we have attempted to represent the organisation and numbers on each side. However, for many battles accurate information is unknown and frequently contradictory. In these cases we have made some assumptions base don best available information." This is Jon the scientist speaking. As a duo, their complementary skills are clear to see in this work.
Each scenario comes with historical background, deployment suggestions, maps, and Volley and Bayonet roster sheets that can simply be copied off and used in the games. The level of detail provided also (I suspect) means that adaptation to other rules sets pitched at a similar level of operational command would be a relatively simple task.
Often when I buy scenario books and attempt to play some of the games I am left to wonder if the writers ever actually play tested their creations, so unplayable do the games seem. In this case you can rest assured that every single scenario has been play tested multiple times to ensure that a range of outcomes is possible. That's not to say that some of the battles aren't tough for one side or the other to win, but you can be assured that in every case it is possible for either side to win the encounter. As they say in the introduction "The one caveat is that our consistent aim has been to produce "games" which can be won by either side".
The table of contents giving the list of battles:
A sample map:
A sample roster sheet giving an OOB:
Whether you want a source of playable battle scenarios that range in size from medium to larger battles, or a useful historical reference to some of the basic elements of the military history of the period, this book is a winner. It is printed in colour, with a range of illustrations of both art works representing the battles of the period and photos of some of their beautifully painted figures in play. There is a second book in the writing/play testing phase right now, so keep an eye out for more of this wargaming 'lusciousness'. For 'gamers of warfare in the age of reason, this is a must.
One of my early childhood influences
Those teenage years .. at the time, this was a hobby 'winner'
