Battle for Lesnica 12 August 1914

The Battle for Lesnica in Serbia on 12 August 1914 was a small part of the larger action known as the Battle of Cer. This Great War Spearhead scenario was the first outing for my newly painted Serbian infantry, and is taken from the scenario book 'Summer Harvest' by Shawn Taylor and Robert Dunlop. So new is the Serbian army that in its incomplete state Russian guns had to 'proxy' for the Serbian artillery. The Austrian and Serbian infantry and guns are all from the HaT 20mm range.

The battlefield with the Austrian attack coming from the left, the Serbian defences based around the right. Lesnica is the two sector village area lower right.

The Austrian attack plan

The Serbian plan for deployment of its reinforcements, which we interpreted as being 'reserves', so the arrow was drawn at the end of turn 3, before they entered turn 4. At that stage the Austrian plan was still not clear to the Serbian commander, so this deployment made a lot of assumptions about where the Austrians would be

Serbian defences around Lesnica, one of the batteries of old 150mm guns seen at the top of the photo emplaced on the heights. The 'trenches' are from the Timecast range.

One of the emplaced Serbian. 150mm batteries

Defenders around Novo Selo on the Serbian right

The first Austrian regiment deployed and beginning its attack, top centre of the photo

The Austrian attack came in 'piecemeal' reflecting the delays experienced by each regiment in crossing the river.

The Austrian attack well underway, with the second Austrian regiment across the river and advancing

Turn 4 and the Serbian reinforcements have arrived

The centre Austrian regiment comes under fire from the Serbian 150mm battery emplaced on the heights in the centre

Serbian reinforcements close up

Action heats up in the centre with the Austrian attackers now within small arms range.

Austrian casualties

The Serbian reinforcements following their command arrow. The Serbian commander had anticipated an Austrian attack directly towards Lesnica, and planned the reinforcements (with two regiments of field guns) to take the Austrian attack in the flank. The entry along the road leading directly into Lesnica was stipulated in the scenario outline.

The Serbian defenders of Novo Selo come under heavy artillery and small arms fire and take casualties

The Austrian attackers quickly gained support from the off board heavier guns, but failed throughout the game to get support from their onboard field artillery.. comms between observer and guns were obviously very poor on the day

The centre Austrian regiment takes fire, but suffers few casualties (some bad die rolling for the Serbian commander)

In a single devastating round of fire all of the remaining Serbian defenders of Novo Selo are eliminated .. the village is wide open

It's hotter in the centre

The first regiment of the Serbian reinforcing artillery deploys

The game had a 10 turn length, and at the end of turn 10 the Serbians still held Lesnica. While the defenders of Novo Selo had been eliminated the Austrians had not had time to occupy the village. Here is a video panorama from the Austrian left around behind the Austrians and then left to right behind the Serbians.

On victory points the Serbians had won (spoiler alert ... historically they did). The Austrian attacker had been too timid, shifting to making combat moves once he had come under fire, despite that fact that there were so few defenders. A full and fast attack would have swamped the defenders. The Austrians' casualties at five stands, the Serbians at three, were unusually light for a Great War game. 

As part of the 25th anniversary for Great War Spearhead Murray and I had decided we'd build armies for and play some of the theatres that are not commonly seen on the table. This Austro-Hungarian/Serbian clash iss one of those. There are more to come.

Carlist Wars

Last night's Volley and Bayonet game was something a little different, a scenario from the Carlist wars in Spain in the 1830s... Carlists versus Cristinos (or Isabelinos). The scenario was fought using Adrian's 15mm armies.. the Carlists were eventually overwhelmed.

The game was played using a few period specific modifications, something Adrian is very adept at doing in order to capture some of the peculiarities of specific VnB sub-periods.. 

Serbian infantry 1914

I've just completed a 1914 Serbian infantry division for Great War Spearhead. The last figures to be painted were Lancashire Games 18mm figures kindly gifted to me.. they are a large 18mm, and fit comfortably with the 20mm HaT figures. Close up you can see that the 18s are slightly smaller, but mixed in with the HaT 20mm figures in the context of the larger formation, they work well.

Size comparison: Lancashire 18mm on the left, HaT 20mm on the right

The bulk of a 1914 infantry regiment of 18mm figures.

I may leave this at the one division, although I have enough 20mm figures to complete a second division at some stage. We rarely fight battles at Corps level (2 divisions) at the moment, although i'll have enough MMG and artillery stands to do two. Next up will be some artillery stands.

Fascinating fictional fight - 1815

 A second Volley and Bayonet game featured Keith's fab 6mm armies in a fictional battle using armies constructed to match 1815 compositions. The scenario was developed using the Volley and Bayonet Road to Glory scenario system. Given that I struggle to 'invent' scenarios, I find myself increasingly drawn back to the RTG system which is capable of creating some really interesting game that offer fascinating challenges. This one was no exception.

Just a few 'eye candy' shots.

Sometime around the seige of Vienna

 A fictional scenario set in the 1680s was the subject of last night's fictional game, Ottomans vs Imperials, played with our preferred Volley and Bayonet rules. Here are four photos of Jon's 15mm armies.

Back to the Peninsula

The Volley and Bayonet rules have a great scenario generation system included. For me it works well, but it doesn't always suit the needs of every 'gamer.  For this reason I at times try to create a fictional scenario that might be challenging, that might appeal to others. It is however something of a black art (which is a euphemism for 'I'm not very good at it').

This week I tried to create something very different, set on the Peninsula, using my 25mm Spanish and French armies. The setting was a French attempt to clear a road for its future advance. There was a somewhat tired garrison of Spanish troops in a town (M4), and the French advance was led by some second rate French dragoons, also M4. Reinforcements for both sides fed into the battle on predetermined turns. The Spanish force included some guerillas, for which I created some bespoke rules.

Some candid shots from along the way..

The issues were:

1. The guerilla units were too strong... sharp shooters who could be deployed in any terrain feature, and could be redeployed in following turns if 'eliminated' by melee contact. If destroyed by shooting, they were permanently removed from the game, if contacted in melee they simply melted away, able to reappear next turn (just not in the same terrain feature).
2. The French 'escalation' was too slow.. they needed more troops earlier in the game. They had 10 turns to clear the town and road along the 6' length of the table.
3. Rating the dragoons as M4 made them too fragile, and even though the opposing Spanish cavalry was also M4, they were a part of the larger divisions. The French were an independent cavalry division. The M4 rating made their exhaustion level too low, and so they were far too fragile.
4. The French needed a greater cavalry superiority if they were to successfully push along the entire length of the road.

That said, it was great to get to push the 25mm napoleonics around the table again, and as you might expect there was plenty of wargamer chat and banter to make the evening enjoyable (and oh, did I mention sausage rolls?). I am again remind however that these figures would now be older than many of the 'gamers in our city.

Some fabulous fantasy modelling

While visiting last night, Murray shared with me two new model pieces he has finished for HotT, or DBF.

A Great Flyer for the Ratmen

This one a knight, specifically a chariot, for the Ratmen. The figures are old GW figures.