Clash Course in Flower of Chivalry

As an alternative to a Monday Paint & Chat session, Reject Richard gathered a collection of Postie's Rejects for a remote game.  Richard pulled out a 30-plus year-old Medieval ruleset for the session's entertainment.  Richard converted these old rules to hexes, made some amendments, and gave the rules a couple of solo playtests.

The rules that Richard dredged up from his vault are Flower of Chivalry by The Canadian Wargames Group and Bruce McFarlane.  Now, I have had this set of rules filed away on my shelves of wargame rules since about the date it was published in 1993.  Since I only recently became interested in bringing Medieval warfare to the gaming table, McFarlane's book sat on my shelf mostly unread.  Certainly, the rules, themselves, were not give much consideration.  Coming in at only four pages of the 76 page book, they were easy to overlook.  This is especially true since the rules are quite terse with ambiguities at every paragraph.  With four pages of rules and a number of interesting concepts and mechanisms, cramming everything into such a small space would be a hard task.  The game uses card draw, percentile dice, D10s, Orders, Leader Aggression and Command Ratings, Personal Challenges, Army Morale, Variable Actions, and a concept of Battle Lust.  As for brevity, for example, Morale and Melee explanations are only given one paragraph each and short paragraphs at that!  After a quick read, I envisioned sizable holes to be fill.  I explored no further.

Figure photos courtesy of Richard.

This is where Richard comes in armed with multiple pages of custom designed QRS' and the knowledge to lead us all through the basics of the game.  Since Richard will almost certainly provide a more comprehensive battle report (see My Wargaming Habit), I provide a simple, captioned overview of the action from my few screenshots.

The battle opens with a French column caught on the march by an Imperialist Army.  The battle begins!  Since I commanded the French van, my brief recap focuses on that wing almost exclusively. 

Imperialists interrupt the French march.
Imperialist Right heads for the high ground at charge rate.

Dual cameras showing the battle from each side.
The French turn to face the enemy.

All three French Battles deploy as the Imperialists approach.

On the French Left, crossbow crossfire drives off the

Imperialist MAA causing significant damage.

Having destroyed the enemy Landsknechts at the bottom
 of the hill through firepower, alone, French Center attacks.

As the French Center goes crashing in to clash with enemy pikemen, 
the French Right sees its commander cut down in a personal challenge.
  They are leaderless for a turn.
French Gendarmes continue fighting arquebusiers over the hill
on the left in a protracted melee. 
Gendarmes should have made short work of these fellows!

Against the French Left, Imperialist MAA charge to the hill.
With no remaining actions, the horsemen stop.

With Imperialist MAA hampered by the hill,
French Landsknechts move into contact.
French Center makes progress against the enemy center.

In one turn, the Imperialist Left and Center collapse.
This battle is over!

Decisive victory to the French!  A battle well executed by my French comrades Ray and Dan.  Game lasted about three-and-a-half hours.

The game provided a lot of interesting play with some uncertainty and careful decision making.  With only one game in the books, I look forward to more opportunities to give Flowers of Chivalry a bit more exercise.  On exercising, a review of these rules along with my thoughts and a compare and contrast to Basic Impetvs and my more recent work for the WotR might be interesting.  At least, to me, perhaps!

Thank you, Richard and the Rejects for a very entertaining gaming session!

More Bavarians Muster Out

Painting efforts continue to be focused on bringing FPW Germans up to a "gameable" state.  Honestly, I am likely at that point already, but I continue to forge ahead while motivation remains.

Mustering out today are two, sixteen-figure battalions of Bavarian infantry form IR4.  Figures are Lancashire Games.  Only two battalions, this time, because that was all that could be rounded up from a dig through The Lead Pile.  After these 32 figures were pushed through the painting queue, my long-delayed order from Lancashire Games arrived with a bunch of new recruits.  Oh, this order dodged any tariffs too.  Interestingly, a recent hex-and-counter wargame sent from Canada was passed over by any tariff since the game was originally manufactured in the USA.  Now that is something to stick away for future reference.

Again, I think these advancing Lancashire Bavarians are simply splendid.  Easy to paint and look good en masse. Some Bavarian artillery ought to be joining the small but growing Bavarian contingent soon.  Still, lots more figures from a variety of projects working through the production line.  I might even manage to finish off a regiment of Prussian dragoons before too long if I remain focused.

On the gaming front, CCA in 6mm was out on the dining table this week.  The session featured the Punic War Battle of Po River in an encore engagement.  Kevin and I managed to play five games plus fit in an Indian buffet out in under four hours.  Surprisingly, Carthage won all five contests with Kevin coming out as victor in two of the five games.  Good fun!

Downstairs on the big table, boxes have been pulled as I consider a Reconquista battle for the next series of games. Given that information on these battles is scarce, I am on the hunt for suitable candidates to bring to the table.  I may bring one of Matt's many scenarios to the table.  For rules, all of my other Reconquista games have utilized my version of Basic Impetvs on a grid.  Thoughts waffle on whether to give my WotR Medieval rules a try with this collection.  If I go down the latter route, hopefully, the core game engine will work "mostly" as is.  All of this excitement sees more Reconquista-type lead excavated from The Lead Pile and added into the growing painting queue.  Records show I have not added any units to this project in five years.  I thought I was finished! 

Goin' Down for the Last Time

Yes, today's report is likely the last replay of Quistello before I move along to another new period and another new battle.  In this replay, I take on Peter (Grid-based wargaming) in a one-on-one match.  Peter has already provided an excellent account of our contest with a series of marvelously hand-drawn maps.  If only I had Peter's artistic talent!  Be sure to visit Peter's blog and read his battle account.

As a refresher for the situation, the Allies (Franco-Piedmontese) begin the battle encamped with a possibility of being caught off guard when the Austrians launch their surprise attack in the early morning.  Army and troop dispositions are shown in the table photos below: 

Battlefield with original Austrian attack plan.

Army dispositions.

While Peter's account is a tough act to follow, I provide my recollections from battle in a series of captioned battle photos.

View of battlefield looking SE from San Benedetto.

In the early morning hours, the Austrian Army successfully approaches the Secchia River without sounding an alarm in the camps of the sleeping Frenchmen.  The battle is about to begin!

Austrians poised along the eastern bank of the Secchia.

All three Austrian columns begin crossing the Secchia.
Quistello is completely bypassed! 
The French are surprised about this development!

After running off de Broglie,
 Suchow's brigade attacks the defenders of Gaidellina.
Despite being surprised,
 the defenders throw back Suchow's attack.

Crossing the river, Neipperg attacks a second body of French.
Similarly caught by surprise,
 the Frenchmen fall back as the Austrian grenadiers come on.

In minutes, the center of de Contades' line is pierced.

Rather than clearing out Quistello,
 Sachsen-Hildburghausen right faces and marches to the Secchia.
Another surprise by the Austrians!

Lantieri swings his Austrian dragoons around
 to cover the right flank of the army.

A second attack from the east into Gaidellina.
Austrian grenadiers scatter the defenders!
Gaidellina is theirs!

With Gaidellina secure, Konigsegg pushes his columns forward

along the main road to San Benedetto,

Neipperg urges his men forward on the attack.

After suffering artillery fire from Quistello,
Sachsen-Gotha attacks the town with his cavalry. 

The French defenders of Quistello are expelled
and French guns are overrun.

Prince Wurttemberg leads an attack
 into the French positioned astride the main road.
Not surprised, the French get a chance to fire
 as the Austrians bear down.
In close combat, the French are sent reeling back,
and a second battery is overrun! 
De Contades' Brigade breaks!

In the center, the Prince presses on
as Konigsegg advances from Gaidellina.

Lantieri crosses the Secchia and engages a body of
French cavalry forming up in front of Mirasole.
The French are driven back!
Austrian infantry reach the canal.

With Quistello cleared out, Austrian heavy cavalry move
through the town and along the road toward San Benedetto.
The Allies begin to respond.
De Bonas' cavalry moves forward to pin the enemy at Gaidellina
 while shifting two regiments to the center.
One isolated Austrian infantry unit is scattered
 when one of de Bonas' French cavalry attacks.

The center is quite thin on troops!

As more of Waldeck's infantry reach the canal,
the Piedmontese attack with grenadiers leading the charge!
The Austrian brigade breaks!

Piedmontese grenadiers move up to defend the canal.
The Austrians attack across the canal with grenadiers
 leading the way and Sachsen-Hild at the head.
Sachsen-Hild. goes down but the Piedmontese are destroyed.
Savoya's Piedmontese brigade breaks.

Austrians are across the canal and Austrian cavalry
 are working around the French left at Mirasole.

Needing only to destroy one of de Coigny's French
cavalry regiments to break the Allied Army,
 Lantieri brings up his dragoons.  
This may be a high-risk venture.
If successful, the Allied Army breaks.
If not, Lantieri will likely be broken in his efforts.

Lantieri succeeds and the Allied Army retires.
This battle is over!

Butcher's Bill

Congratulations to Peter on a fine victory!

Well, the Allied Army took another beating but fared better than they saw in their last outing.  The Allies almost held out for long enough but not quite.  Game ended on Turn 7 of 8.  The Dead Pile may be a little deceiving since several Austrian units were hanging onto life by the skin of their teeth. 

As in the historical battle, the French were caught by the early surprise attacks and de Contades was barely able to put together any sort of defensive line at all.  Like in the other games, de Contades was overrun and broken before he really got his footing.

We witnessed an historical result with the Allies battered and retiring from the field.  For the Austrians, von Waldeck's large infantry brigade was broken and his cavalry nearly so.  Each army saw two of its generals go down in the fighting.  Losing the fight at the canal and allowing the Austrians to turn the French left was really my undoing.  De Coigny's cavalry should have reacted much sooner and more aggressively.

Still, this battle iteration's result reinforces that the historical outcome can be replicated and probable.  Game #2 saw a similar historical result but on a grander scale.  In Game #1, without the sudden collapse of two Austrian brigades at the start of battle, we may have a seen similar outcome to the second two games.  In the final accounting, the Allies came up short in all three games.  For now, the Franco-Piedmontese Army at Quistello has gone down for the last time. 

Nice job, Peter!  Maybe I will get you next time? 

As for next time, I pack away the War of Polish Succession armies, clear the table, and plan for the next series of games.  I have a hankering for seeing my Reconquista armies back out on table so that may be next.

Thanks for looking!

What's Next?

As temperatures begin to cool and the calendar confirms the seasonal change to fall, thoughts drift toward what the fourth quarter may hold.

Having recently finished up the third playing of the Quistello battle on Thursday (thank you, Peter!), I wrestle with either bringing another 18th Century battle to the table while the rules are still fresh in mind or jump to something else for a brief diversion.  The rules withstood the change over from each BMU occupying a one larger hex to each BMU occupying two smaller hexes.  Still, a few situations need to be codified (at least in my mind) before the next run-out of the rules as I adjust and become more familiar to the two-hex format.  While Peter has provided a terrific battle report on his blog (see Quistello), I ought to hammer out my impressions of our game as well.  Sadly, my Allies fell in defeat but managed to put up a respectable fight despite having de Contades' Brigade caught almost entirely by surprise.  Well, I thought so at least! 

On the painting front, painting seasonality in the graphic below illustrates that my painting production tends to increase from now until year-end.  Will 2025 maintain this seasonal pattern?  I guess we will see in January.  Since I have not re-run this seasonality study since 2020, perhaps, it is high time to update this analysis and assess whether this pattern still holds today?  Hmm.  Something to add to my To Do list. 

Sticking to the topic of year-end painting, before the weather turns cold, time to think about what I want to tackle in the painting queue and get those figures primed for the long winter.  FPW Germans still figure prominently in the painting queue with a number of units already completed and awaiting a turn at the photo box.  My early August order from Lancashire Games, long held hostage by Irish Customs, finally made into my mailbox last week.  Hoorah!  Now, I have some more FPW Prussian and Bavarians to push into the production line.  What I want to concentrate on over the winter months is still undecided.  Probably more 15mm figures as I strike off on a project expansion into a new conflict but a return to Biblicals in 25mm is likely as well.

Plenty of time to formalize plans before the weather becomes too cold to prime figure outside.

Data for the GWS2025 have been recoded and processed.  First thing I took a peek at was the number of PWJ readers who completed the survey and entered the identifying code into the Observations field.  Nineteen of you took that extra step in the survey.  The number 19 seems about right in capturing those readers who regularly leave a comment.  Thank you!  Now, as a profile of those readers responding, a few of the demographic attributes are illustrated in the panel below:

Hardly surprising to see Old Grognards frequenting these pages!

A First Look at 3D Printing

Nancy recently developed an interest in 3D printing and wondered how it would work.  Our local library offers a hands-on 3D printing tutorial and limited free printing.  Well, she enrolled in the tutorial offered with an stl file to bring along for test purposes.  Asking if I had any files she could take, I offered up the Wargames Atlantic British Paratrooper Releasing a Carrier Pigeon file that WSS provided as a thank you for completing the 2023 Great Wargaming Survey.

In the tutorial, the librarian was excited to see the paratrooper model and enjoyed manipulating the file before firing off the printer.  In an attempt to optimize the printing, the size was increased to better capture some details and improve the actual printing process.  Well, Nancy expected to be bringing her works back after the tutorial but did not know the length of time that these printers take to make a model.  After a few days, she returned to the library to pick up these creations. 

Pulling the model from the bag, I faced the printing results below:

Now, there may be a model in there somewhere but cutting it out may take some work.  It did!  After slicing, clipping, and trimming away everything that was not the model, the vignette emerged.

After painting, the model looks quite good to my eye with good detail and a decent printing quality.  Could I repeat this process to build an army?  No way!  Still, a fun and interesting diversion from normal operations.

A few photos from the finished vignette below:

What do you think?

Speaking of The Great Wargaming Survey, data from the 2025 survey plopped into my Dropbox account this week.  Preprocessing and recoding will begin soon as I begin the annual dive into the results.  Response was down again this year with much of this downtick attributed to failure to complete the survey.  Seems only about 78% of respondents managed to click the "Submit" button after answering the survey.  Step it up, people!