Prussians on the March

Having laid in a sizable supply of primed and Ready-to-Paint figures in preparation for hunkering down in winter quarters, I pick up the brushes and get back to work.  The completion of undercoating activities appears to cross the finish line only days ahead of a wintertime atmospheric river of moisture headed into the Pacific Northwest.  Did I lay in enough supplies to make it through winter?  Perhaps not but there are always opportunities to step outside to lay a coat of spray primer down on a handful of figures if the stockpile runs low or my interests change.

Anyway, marching out from the workbench today are 48 figures comprising the 96th Infantry Regiment.  These 48 figures are spread across three, 16-figure battalions.  Today's release brings the fledgling FPW Prussian army up to six infantry regiments.  This is probably enough to begin thinking about bringing this small force to the table.  Figures are 15mm Lancashire Games.

With the game table seeing Reconquista armies battling it out at Zallaqah (I still have one BatRep from a week ago to write), it may be little surprise that more figures for this period have been pressed into the painting queue.  More Christian horse and foot are working their way through the production line.  Hopefully, some of these units will find their way to the photo box and eventually here.

photo courtesy wargamesinthedungeon

Later this morning sees a return to the long running AWI series of games with Matt.  It has been a very long time since we last visited this series of games as we fight our way through the AWI.  Today's offering looks at the Battle of the Clouds in a follow-up from the Battle of Brandywine.  Should be fun.

Zallaqah, Again

Following up on the Zallaqah battle with Postie's Rejects (see Zallaqah 1086), I reset the table and invited four more players to try their hands at this scenario on 14 NOV.  These players included three old hands and a new face.  Dave G. was the new addition to this trio and with three Dave's in the game, Chris suggested he ought to be a "Dave" too!  Funny guy!

Players for this iteration of the battle are:

Christian Army under King Alfonso VI

Dave B (DB) The Ragged Soldier - Alfonso VI (blue dice)

Dave G (DG) Small and Perfectly Formed - al-var Fanez (green dice but switched to white in BatRep)

Christian Army

Muslim Army under Yusuf ibn Tashfin

Chris Horse and Musket Gaming - Yusuf ibn Tashfin (black dice)

Dave C (DC) Serener Skies - al-Mu'ta-mid (red dice), Abi Bakr (green dice)

Muslim Army

With commands sorted, on to battle!

As the battle opens, Christian heavy cavalry peel off to both flanks in an attempt to bypass the massed Muslim heavy infantry tercios in the center.  Two bodies of knights remain in the center facing the enemy.  Advancing forward to close the range, Taifa infantry in the first line let loose missile volleys into the Christian horse.  Many of the Christian horsemen are disordered from Muslim shooting.  The Taifa tercios form up into a formidable wall as Muslim cavalry draw up on both flanks.  Something is going to give soon but where?

The battle begins!

Christian heavy horsemen move to the flanks...

while the Taifa tercios form a solid line.

With Muslim camelry moving up on the flanks to counter Christian cavalry in those sectors of the battlefield, Alfonso strikes on the left.  Having brought up light cavalry to harass the enemy camels, Christian cavalry charges in.  Facing camels, the horsemen have difficulty charging with their full weight.  In the ensuing class, the Christian cavalrymen are repulsed with heavy loses to both combatants.  Not wasting an opportunity, a body of knights following up in a second wave plows into the camelry driving them off in great disarray.  The knights take the ground but fail to pursue any farther. 

Attack and repulse!

A second attack...

and the enemy is driven away.

On the other flank, Muslim medium cavalry charges in to try to break the Christian line.  Slipping by the rightmost Christian cavalry, the Muslim horsemen drive back a body of Christian heavy cavalry.  Pursuing into the gap left vacant by the retiring horsemen, Muslim horsemen follow up and re-engage enemy cavalry.  This time, however, these horsemen are supported by massed crossbowmen.  The crossbow fire their bolts into the charging Muslims, disordering their formation.  In the clash, the Muslims are repulsed.   These troopers turn tail and head back to their own lines as the Christian cavalry moves up to takes its place back in the battle line.

Cavalry charges on the Christian Right are not quite finished yet.  Yusuf brings forward another body of camelry to crack the enemy line.  The Christian cavalry's luck has run out.  The camelry scatters what remains of the exhausted troopers to the winds.  Not wanting to face a solid body of crossbow at the ready, the camel riders choose not to pursue.    

Muslim cavalry charge in and pursue...

but are countercharged and driven off!

Exhausted from their efforts,
 Christian cavalry scatter when attacked again.

Battlefield overview after action on the flanks.

Seeing the red knights isolated in front of the Christian battle line, the Badajoz tercio moves forward to engage.  The fight in the center witnesses a titanic struggle with heavy losses on both sides.  Exhausted and badly damaged, the knights just manage to hold the ground as the enemy is compelled to retire.  Back on the Christian Left, Muslim cavalry comes on again.  Again, the Christian cavalry drives the enemy away!

Badajoz tercio attacks...

and is repulsed.

Muslim cavalry driven off after a failed attack.

Battle lines face off in the center.

Returning to the cavalry action on the right, Christian cavalry charge into enemy camelry.  Despite the reluctance to charge head long against camels, the Christians prefer in the clash and scatter the camels.  The Christian cavalry pursues and sees enemy horse archers fall back before them.  Blocking the way is an enemy tercio with long spearpoints gleaming in the sun.  Rather than risk it all in a frontal attack, the horsemen pull up and end their pursuit.  Their hesitation allows the tercio to step forward plugging the gap to the Muslim rear while threatening the cavalry.  In a brief exchange, the Chistian cavalry are forced back.  

Camels destroyed...

and horse archers evade.

After a brief clash, the Christian horsemen fall back.

Now is the time for the infantry battle to begin.

King Alfonso moves his infantry up on the attack. First to go in is his large, heavy infantry block on the left.  They are disordered by crossbow fire on the way in but press on.  The heavy spearmen are too much for the crossbow and it collapses.  Muslim skirmishers fall back in sympathy.  With enemy now immediately on the victorious unit's right, Alfonso, himself, leads more heavy infantry forward in support.  With similar determination, the King drives off the enemy.  In this sector, the Muslim line has been pushed back!  Both armies are approaching their breakpoints at which time they will be compelled to withdraw from battle.

The King offers up a one...

two punch!

The Muslim line is pushed back!

Yusuf does not give up!  Back into the fray he sends his Black Guard under the command of Abi Bakr.  Abi Bakr leads a charge into the enemy spear block.  Suffering tremendous losses, the Christian spearmen turn and run toward the rear.  Abi Bakr pursues crashing into Alfonso and his spearmen.  Abi Bakr's attack is repulsed!  In a series of attacks and counterattacks, the fight continues.  The King leads his men forward in pursuit.  The Muslim spearmen stand firm and the King's men are repulsed!  With heavy losses, the King recoils.  Abi Bakr resumes the pursuit.

Abi Bakr goes in and drives off the enemy!

Pursuit carries Bakr into the King but his attack is repulsed.

Alfonso counterattacks...

and is repulsed.

Abi Bakr follows up in counterattack.

Last attack of the day.

With both Breakpoint Clocks nearing zero, Abi Bakr senses that one last push and a Great Army with be destroyed.  He is right!  While the King must flee to prevent capture or worse, this last attack of the day destroys one of his own units.  This loss is enough to push Yusuf's Army across the threshold.  The Great Army destroyed was Yusuf's!  

A Great Army is destroyed.

My!  What a game!

King Alfonso manages to push Yusuf's Army over the breaking point first but as the blue Breakpoint Clock shows, only a single pip prevents the Christian Army from a similar fate as well.  Had King Alfonso become a casualty in that last melee, both armies would have crossed their breakpoints at the same time.  Such a close contest!

Butcher's Bill

Great game, fellas!  There was a lot of punch and counterpunch throughout and nearly non-stop fighting from the first sounds of battle.  Dave B. and Dave G., congratulations on coming out on top.  Dave C. and Chris, this was too close to call.  With only a '1' point differential on the Breakpoint Clocks, I call this battle a draw.  A hard-fought draw too!

Thank you all, and Dave G. glad you could join into this action.  Hopefully, you will return for more.

Game duration was about four hours.  Oh, the newly installed dice frames worked well too!

Some like It Hoth!

Made the journey to Coeur d'Alene two Friday's ago to join Scott in breaking in his recently arrived Star Wars: Battle of Hoth Commands & Colors game.  After going over the rules and becoming familiar with the units and terrain pieces, we dug into the game on a mission to work through the first few scenarios.

Star Wars: Battle of Hoth, rather than by GMT Games, is published by Days of Wonder and offers up a fast-paced, light wargame that recreates the iconic Empire Strikes Back battles using a streamlined Command and Colors system.  Having never played Memoir '44, Scott affirms that Hoth draws heavily from Memoir '44 but with a Star Wars thematic flair.  The miniatures included in the game are actually quite nice although very light being molded in plastic.  I expect Scott will push these figures into his long painting queue at some point.

My initial impression is that play offers a quick, small-sized tabletop miniatures battles with a Stars Wars cinematic theme and a Commands & Colors feel.  Rules are not the same as in CC Ancients, but Hoth's Commands & Colors heritage is certainly present.  With only a handful of units per side in the opening scenarios, setup is quick.  Games are finished almost as quickly.  Our battles were often fought to conclusion in under 30 minutes.  Several were over in about 20 minutes.

While this was only a first introduction to the game, initial impression suggests the system may favor the Imperial Forces.  Imperial infantry can take four hits to the Rebels' three hits and, in our games, the most powerful cards tended to show up in the Imperial player's hand.  Unlike CC Ancients, there is no Battle Back process.  Players attack with impunity so no counterattack possible.  These initial games did not seem to reproduce the same tactical challenges and decision making present in CC Ancients but, perhaps tactics will evolve with more games under our belts?  

In the end, it was a very fun day out and I learned a new game system.  Looking forward to more trials with Hoth.  Did I mention Scott sprung for lunch out too?  Excellent!

This Friday just passed, I hosted a four-player replay of the Zallaqah battle.  Four different players participated in this contest with three "old hands" and a new player.  The game was a real nailbiter right down to the last die roll.  Who came out victorious?  That is a tale for another time. 

I get a chance to try my hand in this scenario in a one-to-one game on Monday.

Framed!

Having hosted remote games via Zoom for several years now, I decided to take up a different tack on how to display status dice for my frequent Basic Impetvs games.

Up until now, 16mm status dice (VBU and Impetvs Bonus) have been placed on the raised cleat at the left rear of each stand.  These dice are big, a bit unwieldy, and occasionally topple down from the cleat during play.  The benefit of these larger dice is that players can easily see these dice from the overhead webcams when participating in remote games.

16mm Status Dice

In the last game with five players (see Zallaqah 1086), I switched out the 16mm status dice for smaller, 12mm dice.  These 12mm dice still occasionally toppled down from the cleat during play but not as often as with the 16mm dice.  As an encouraging bonus, not one player commented about the change in dice.  Now, they either did not notice the swap or could not see the pips to begin with and refrained from commenting.  The Rejects are a very polite group, so the answer certainly could be the latter!

12mm Status Dice

Hearing no open rebellion, I decided to take this to the next level by fixing the smaller dice onto the cleat.  Looking for dice trays or frames, I discovered that Warbases make a dual frame for 12mm dice.  The frames were exactly what I was looking to find!  I placed an order and the order arrived quickly.  This was my first order from Warbases.  Service and product were excellent.  

Comparison 1: Old vs New

Since the Zallaqah battle is up for a replay on Friday, I set to work affixing these dice frames to the stands needed for the Zallaqah battle.  Cutting out the frames and sticking each to a base did not take too long for the 50 stands needed for the upcoming game.

Comparison 2: Old vs New

To my eye, this improves the look of the stand and adds a bit of tidiness and stability to the status dice.  My only problem now is that I have at least three very large collections that require similar treatment.  Hopefully, I bought enough frames to re-engineer all of the bases and bring all of the Basic Impetvs collections up to current specifications.  I think I did but much work lies ahead.  

FPW Prussian Dragoons and Winter Prep

With frost on the ground in the mornings and daylight hours decreasing, time to really think about laying in a winter's supply of black, undercoated figured.  In between various winter prep tasks (actually, prepping and priming figures ought to be added to my list of tasks), the Ready-to-Paint (R2P) box saw a measurable increase in the number of units ready to paint.  The decision of what to prep for winter is always a bit challenging because I must come upon a plan.  This year, the winter theme seems to center around what collection was out on table last.  That would be the Reconquista.  With the recent Zallaqah game, a deep dig into The Lead Pile pulled up enough figures to field several units for both armies.  Do I need more?  Of course not!  Prepped and primed, these handfuls of figures nearly exhaust the tally of unpainted figures remaining in the bins.  Rough count points to about 75 figures plopped into the R2P box.  Also getting attention are several handfuls of figures to expand the Biblical collections.  Of course, some more FPW 15s are heading into the R2P box as are more 18th Century 15s.  The painting queue is getting quite long.

Besides laying in a supply of figures for winter, the painting desk saw some action this weekend too.  The first of these efforts is a 12-figure regiment of Prussian dragoons.  These fellows are from the 7th Dragoon Regiment. 

Figures are Old Glory from 19th Century Miniatures.  With December fast approaching, it is almost time for 19th Century's annual Christmas sale.  I better dig and sift through The Lead Pile to see what I may need to include in my annual restock.  In my recent excavation, I uncovered a number of figures, some from long lost, dormant, or forgotten projects.  Some of these discoveries I set aside for possible Paint'em or Purge'em decisions.  Others, I simply threw back into the hole and reburied to rediscover later.   

Zallaqah 1086

On Monday just passed, five of Postie's Rejects gathered around the remote gaming table for a return to the Reconquista.  Today's action would focus on the 1086 Battle of Zallaqah (or Zalaca or Sagrajas).  The historical battle was fought on 23 October so this fight was nearly an anniversary edition.

Since details of the battle are spotty with accounts varying wildly, I take liberty to interpret and field as I wish.  With player Battle Briefings distributed and any questions answered we tucked into the game.

Ray and Lee chose to fight for the Christian Army under the leadership of King Alfonso VI deployed as below,

Alfonso's Army

while Richard, Steve, and Surjit stepped into the commands of the Almoravid and Taifa Armies under Yusuf ibn Tashfin.

Yusuf's Army

In the historical battle, King Alfonso struck first with a massive heavy cavalry charge into the Taifa infantry.  Would Ray and Lee's Spanish Army do the same?

Let's find out.

Before the battle begins, the two armies face-off across a narrow valley.  Alfonso has all of his heavy cavalry in the first line with his infantry behind in the second line.  The Taifa forces from Badajoz, Sevilla, and Granada form the Muslim first line with cavalry out on the wings.  Yusuf's Almoravids are drawn up in a second and third line behind.

Armies drawn up for battle.

View from behind the Spanish lines.

View looking down the Muslim left.

Rather than beginning with a heavy cavalry charge bang, Alfonso's cavalry step forward slowly.  Both armies begin to close the distance.  Taifa skirmishers, out in front, come within missile range and pepper the knights with arrows.  Taifa heavy infantry backed by bowmen in tercios advance to missile range too.  Their volleys manage to disorder two of the Spanish heavy cavalry.  

Armies close the distance between their lines.

Possibly surprised that his forward positions were not immediately overrun by the Spanish cavalry, Yusuf springs into action.  His light cavalry in the hills and the medium cavalry in the valley descend upon the right flank of Alfonso's Army.  Setting to work, the light cavalry overruns a careless skirmisher and then turns inward to envelop the enemy battle line of horsemen.  Following up in close pursuit, a body of medium cavalry smashes into Spanish light cavalry.  With enemy light cavalry now in its rear, the Spaniards choose to stand and accept the charge.  Overpowered by the Muslim cavalry, the Spanish cavalry falls back taking casualties as it passes in front of the Muslim horsemen.  The Muslims continue in pursuit destroying the enemy horsemen before they can reach safety behind their own lines.

Muslim cavalry charge in...

overrunning skirmishers and...

pushing back enemy light horse.

Enemy is caught and destroyed before making an escape.

With its blood up having destroyed the retreating enemy cavalry, the Muslim medium horsemen throw themselves into a line of massed crossbowmen.  Shot up as they closed, the crossbowmen repulse their attacker but not before taking serious casualties.  Seeing that the enemy is wavering to its front, Muslim light cavalry renews the attack.  The light cavalry cut through the nearest body of crossbowmen before reaching the second mass of crossbowmen.  In the face of such destruction, the crossbowmen are forced to fall back to the safety between two heavy infantry units.  Now, with its flank exposed and no possibility to evade, the Muslim light cavalry is scattered as the Spanish heavy infantry moves up to engage.  

Arab cavalry repulsed.

Light cavalry attacks weakened crossbow
and destroys them.

Pursuit forces the second crossbow to retire...

but a counterattack scatters the cavalry.

The Almoravid cavalry clash is not over quite yet.  Emerging from behind the Badajoz infantry, a body of camelry charges into an awaiting body of Caballeros Villanos.  The camels are driven off and the Spanish cavalry counter charges in pursuit.  After having overrun a body of skirmishers who failed to evade, the Caballeros are put to flight when they smack into a steady body of Almoravid spearmen shooting arrows and bolts into the heavy cavalry on the approach. 

Camelry charges into enemy horse and are repulsed...

while enemy skirmishes are run down.

Having failed to break the enemy tercio in the first cavalry charge, Alfonso sends forward the red knights.  While the red knights concentrate their attack against the massed crossbow to the left, the tercio lends some of its weight as support.  The tercio's long spears also negate the knight's impetus bonus.  In the first clash, the crossbowmen are destroyed, and the knights suffer only light casualties.  The supporting tercio is forced to retreat and falls back into the Black Guard.  The Black Guard give ground and become disordered from the chaos.

Red knights attack!

Pursuing into the gap left by the destruction of the crossbow, the red knights hit the unsupported tercio.  Casualties are heavy with the tercio losing its back stand of bowmen.  With great luck, the red knights pass their cohesion test and only become disordered.  With the tercio continuing its retreat, the red knights follow up keeping the pressure on.  Again, the tercio is hit but this time the Black Guard can offer support.  More Muslims fall.  Yusuf's men are forced back once again. The red knights ignore their casualties and forge ahead against the retreating Almoravids.  For a third time, the red knights crash into the enemy and the enemy is driven back.  While driving back the enemy, knights suffer heavy casualties and fail to pursue.  The attack of the red knights creates a HUGE gap in the Almoravid battle line. 

Pursuit carries the red knights...

deep into the enemy line.

A Big hole opens in the Almoravid battle line.

In an attempt to stabilize what appears to be a rapidly deteriorating situation, the Almoravid right launches an attack.  The Arab camelry hits Spanish heavy cavalry and the camels immediately turns about in retreat.  The Spanish pursue catching the camels in the rear.  Even with support, the camels are scattered and their supporting cavalry falls back.  Still, the Spanish cavalry come on.  As with the exploits of the red knights in the center, the Spanish manage to pass several cohesion tests after each melee.  Having neutralized much of the Arab cavalry on the enemy right, the Spanish horsemen swing in to contact a tercio.  Here the Spanish meet their match and their maker.  The Almoravid tercio stands firm, destroying the Spanish.  For now, the Almoravid Right is secure, but it came at great cost.  

Camels attack and retreat!

In pursuit after pursuit...

the enemy is driven off.

Until, that is, the Spanish meet their match!

With the threat to the Almoravid Right squashed, Yusuf counterattacks in the center against the weakened red knights.  Those heroic Spanish knights are dispatched quickly.  Still, Alfonso sends more cavalry forward.  That body of heavy cavalry forces the Arab tercio to its front to give ground.  Arabs fall back, rally, and then march forward back into battle.  They still have some fight in them!  The Spanish are seen off!  The Almoravid battle line begins to reform and consolidate its position.   

Yusuf attacks and scatters the red knights!

An Almoravid tercio moves up to attack enemy cavalry.

Enemy cavalry retreats!

Muslim battle line reforms.

Battle ends in a draw.

After three-and-a-half hours of play and seeing Muslim line reform with a wall of spears facing the enemy, we declare the battle a draw.  Neither army had broken and there was still fight left in both armies but both sides had been seriously depleted.  With the hour getting late, everyone agreed that a draw was an appropriate conclusion.  The Butcher's Bill favored the Spanish but having lost two bodies of knights is a hard blow.

Butcher's Bill

The points of special note in this game were Lee and Ray's drives deep into the Almoravid battle line.  Lee split the Arab left-center and Ray knocked out the Arab Right in a series of amazing cohesion check passes.  I will spare everyone the probabilities of these two events!  Even with those extreme events, the Arabs managed to stabilize the situation and were prepared to take the fight to the Spanish.

Thank you all for a very entertaining game!  Good fun!