Battle of Raab 13:30-14:00

When last we left the battle (Raab 13:00-13:30), French cavalry were making some progress in establishing a bridgehead around the Upper Bridge on the French right.  Austrian cavalry saw Andrasy panic and both Hadik and Grosztony lost to injury.  Andrasy's command had fallen back and Hadik and Grosztony remained on defense of the bridge and ford.  In the center neither combatant had yet to grasp the upper hand.

At 13:30, Pully's dragoon division is seen approaching the Upper Bridge to lend support to the French cavalry whom have been battling there all morning.  Much of the French cavalry rally with the exception of half of the 1/Italian Dragoons who continue routing back across the Pancza.

Pully's dragoons approach Pancza

Once more, French cavalry strike out from their tenuously held bridgehead in an attempt to overpower their foe in three cavalry charges.

French cavalry attack

Although already down to about 50% effectives, the 1/9 Hussars attack from the banks of the brook into the disordered and heavily damaged 2/Bacser Insurrectio cavalry.  Being disordered, the Hungarians cannot muster the organization to counter charge.  They are caught flat footed.  The hussars scatter the Hungarians and continue on into the 2/5 Ott Hussars.  Not able to gain advantage on the Austrian hussars, the 1/9th breaks off and retreats back to the safety of the Pancza, demoralized.

Austrians counter charge!

Likewise, Grouchy and the 1/7 Dragoons target the 2/Pesther Insurrection cavalry.  In good order, the Hungarians are able to counter charge.  Still, with Grouchy's presence and the heavier mounts, the French heavy cavalry cut their way through the Hungarians, scattering them to all points of the compass.  As the French pursue, the 1/Pesther Insurrectio horse stand in the path.  Already at half strength, the 1/Pesther suffers the same fate as its sister formation.  Shaken, Grouchy and the 1/7 Dragoons retire back to the bridge.

In the final clash, the 2/Italian Dragoons meet another counter charging body of Insurrection cavalry. In this exchange, the Hungarians are overrun as they fall back in search of safety.  As the Italians continue on their rampage, the 2/Zemplin Insurrectio are hit and destroyed.  Shaken, the Italian dragoons recall to  the Pancza.

Three attacks and four Hungarian Insurrectio cavalry formations have disappeared.  With the seeming destruction of Mescery's cavalry wing, both Hadik and Grozstony must check for panic.  With heavy losses, both formations panic and break towards the east leaving a number of troopers in the hands of the French.

Mescery's command disintegrates

Turning to the center, artillery fire continues to escalate.  The Austrian Reserve guns on the Heights pound Seras and the 2/53rd Line at the church.  Enduring near constant bombardment, the 2/53rd suffers heavy casualties becoming disordered.  For now, they hold their good defense ground at the church hillock.

Without support from Seras or Durutte, Severoli's Division of d'Hilliers' Corps advances across the Pancza to engage the Austrians alone.  To help shelter Severoli's Italians from artillery fire as they make their way across the treacherous brook, Durutte's 1/62 Line advances so as to shield the Italians.  This maneuver is not without cost as the French become disordered by the gun fire.

Severoli steps across the Pancza Brook

Nevertheless, Severoli makes contact with the Austrians across his entire front.  Many of the formations become disordered as the brook is negotiated.  All attacks hit the Austrian line in concert.    

Severoli's attack

With Severoli, himself, leading the attack, the 2nd Italian Line and 2/3rd Italian line arise out from the steeply banked Pancza to face the Salzburg Landwehr covering the stream bank.  Unable to find their footing, the Italians become shaken as they fight at a disadvantage against the heavily supported landwehr.  In a tough struggle, Severoli and his Italians are pushed back into the Pancza.  The retreat turns to rout.  As his demoralized Italians scatter back across the brook, Severoli finds himself nearly alone on the east bank.  Before he can recross the brook, the Austrian landwehr capture the commander!  Oh no! 

Next to contact the Austrians is 1st Italian Line Regiment.  The Italians climb out of the brook to face 1/IR27 on Severoli's right.  In the struggle for supremacy, first the Italians become shaken and then are overpowered by the Austrians.  Having suffered heavy casualties, the 1st Italian Regiment retreats back across the brook, demoralized.  Going in against Sebottendorf's guns on Severoli's left, the 1/3 Italian Line Regiment attacks.  Threatened, the Austrian guns limber and scamper away.

In the final attack on the Austrian line,  the 112th French Line finds Eckhart's IR32.  In a desperate struggle with the 10 Grenz lending support on IR32's right, the Austrians begin to waver and then break for the rear.  IR32 takes heavy casualties as it retreats to safety.

IR32 demoralized

Severoli wins some and losses some

Having his guns and IR32 in retreat as a result of the French attack near the Middle Bridge, Eckhart's green formation panics and routs back away from the brook.  Despite localized victories on the left against Eckhart, the repulse with heavy casualties and the capture of Severoli on the right cause the Italians to panic.  A number of Italians from 2/3 Italian Line lay down their arms as the bulk of the division retreats back across the Pancza and well beyond the stream.

Severoli panics!

Situation from French positions

On the Austrian side of the stream, few Austrian cavalry on the right halt their retreat.  With the entire left in flight, Mescery must personally intervene.  This may prove a futile task.

Gajoli arrives at HQ

At Johan's HQ, Gajoli arrives to accept command of the Reserve after having delegated his old command and ridden up the Heights in search of the Archduke.  Out of breath, Gajoli says,

Your excellency, thank you for elevating me to the command of Frimont's Reserve. My former division is on the way to block Seras' advance upon the southern approaches to Kis-Megyer.

One of my talented ADCs has joined me with my recommendation that he take over Kienmeyer's vacant command. In tandem, we can throw the French back from Kis-Megyer.

When I left my positions near Kis-Megyer, the Italians were preparing an attack on the northern approaches to the farm. I am confident my old division along with the support of the Reserve batteries, can stall any French attempt to take Kis-Megyer from the south.

The grenadiers of the Reserve may be useful in counterattacking Severoli's Italians if they make a passage of the Pancza. After being thrown back from Kis-Megyer, Durutte appears to not have the stomach for another such frontal attack.
What are your orders?

Before Johan can respond to Gajoli's recommendations, a chorus of "Huzzahs" are heard above the gunfire coming from north of Kis-Megyer.  Both commanders turn their glasses towards the Kis-Megyer complex.

The Italians have been turned back and are in flight, your Excellency!" exclaims Gajoli.

Lowering his eye glass, the Archduke, says,

Indeed! No need for the grenadiers to support Sebottendorf.  Prepare to send the grenadiers and the 19th against the church.  Let's see if we can push Seras back across the brook too!

As Gajoli's old division attacks between the church and Kis-Megyer, the Austrian reserve batteries continue to pound the French hunkered down behind the walls of the church.  The 1/53rd takes more casualties and becomes shaken.

Austrian Reserve batteries in action

Newly led, Gajoli's old formation of IR62 strikes the disordered and weakened 2/53 Line in the hollow between the church and high ground of Kis-Megyer.  

IR62 attacks!

With heavy artillery fire to their right and being attacked frontally by fresh troops, the 2/53rd buckles and retreats back across the Pancza , demoralized.  As they retreat, the 53rd passes through the 1st Legere forcing them back across the brook as well.

IR62 victorious!

Dispositions at 14:00

Whew!  The Austrian left appears to be in disarray but the Austrian strongpoints in the center continue to hold and hold well.  The repulse of Severoli's large division of Italians is a tough pill to swallow for Eugene.

As for Johan, where should his next move concentrate?

With his left flank now in the air, quick decisions must be made.  What should they be? 

Wargamer Profiling and The Holy Trinity?

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13JUL2015: Graph update note:

Having received a handful of profiles, I updated the earlier graphic to reflect these actual data points.  Refinements to the graph also included.  Thus far, participants are all above average with respect to Historian v. Craftsman.  More data please!

Below is the original posting.

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In a recent posting on his excellent blog, Blunders on the Danube, Peter highlighted an article from a 1971 issue of Courier Magazine (see Peter's Wargamer Profile write-up).  The article featured a Wargamer's Profile by Ted Haskell and attempted to bucket wargamers into five broad classifications.  The purpose of this exercise was to produce an individual gamer's profile based on Haskell's five attributes.  The classifications (or attributes) as Haskell saw them were:

• Historian
• Craftsman
• Collector
• Rulesmith
• Gamesman

Now, given that this analysis was conducted more than 40 years ago may have something to do with the classifications used and the components within each.  Times change.  How many today cast their own figures?  I know some who do but I suspect these fellows are in the minority.  I found many of the attributes associated within each classification to be overlapping and confounding.  Overlap existed even between classifications making it difficult to divine exactly how to classify myself.  Part of an attribute was in one classification; the remainder surfaced in a different attribute.  Others may find themselves easier to classify.  

For example, under the classification of GAMESMAN, Rank 4 "Plays Often," Haskell correlates playing one game per week to being a Rules Lawyer, playing for fun in a competitive setting, and using complicated Combat Resolution methods.  Does playing frequently necessarily lead to the other attributes?

I follow what Haskell attempted but each of these attributes could be independent in my mind.  Does a Rules Lawyer necessarily game more frequently than others?  Does a RULESMITH Rank 5 necessarily prefer day-long games as opposed to those of lesser ranks?  I think not!

In the interest of dimension reduction and my inability to visualize five dimensional data in two-dimensional space (I do manage visualization in four, though) as Haskell's classifications present, my focus will be on classifying what I consider the Holy Trinity of the wargaming hobby.  That is, gaming, history, and modeling. To use Haskell's convention, that trio translates to Gamesman, Historian, and Craftsman.  To me, these are the essential components of our hobby.  Each wargamer likely brings a different mix of each of these components into their make-up but most touch all three.

The Craftsman aspect of the trio encompasses the artistic efforts.  For me, these activities center primarily on painting model soldiers, constructing vehicles and weaponry, and building landscapes over which our soldiers will march and fight.  Some may add figure conversion or sculpting and molding their own armies.  For this exercise, I rate Craft on a scale of 1 to 10 with a '1' being "I cannot be bothered with such labors" to '10' "I must do it all and perfectly!"  Of course, most may fall somewhere in between.

Gamesman classification could carry many attributes.  After consideration, I have narrowed Gamesman down to the frequency of game participation.  Also under consideration was a game complexity continuum but was shelved.  Does the wargamer prefer simple or complex games?  This attribute would help define the wargamer's preference on the Playability vs Simulation continuum.  I may add this attribute in later.

For now, gaming frequency is allocated in discrete counts with the value in games played annually.  These counts will be aggregated into 'Weekly', 'Bi-weekly', 'Monthly', 'Bi-Monthly', 'Quarterly', 'Infrequent ' buckets. 

The Historian component wraps up all of the reading, research, and project planning necessary for forming a well-read wargamer and successful period immersion.  Battle and uniform research, and period readings would be included.  Rules writing and scenario design could fall under this broad classification too.

Like Craftsman, Historian is qualified on 1-10 point scale. '1' is associated with the "Who, me read?" while '10' could represent the professional historian at the top of the scale.   

Finally, I will sneak in one more dimension into the profile.  That dimension will identify the Collector attribute by counting the number of painted figures one possesses.  This Collector Rating is qualified on a '1' to '10' scale. Distribution of the Collector ranking is:

1. Less than 100 painted figures
2. 101-500 painted figures
3. 501-1,000 painted figures
4. 1,001-2,500 painted figures
5. 2,501-5,000 painted figures
6. 5,001-10,000 painted figures
7. 10,001-15,000 painted figures
8. 15,001-20,000 painted figures
9. 20,001-25,000 painted figures
10. 25,000+ painted figures

Of course, collection size is positively correlated to length of time in the hobby or age but those potentially confounding factors will be overlooked for now.

Number of distinct projects might be another useful metric as a measure of a wargamer's collecting status.  The problem with using number of distinct projects is that a wargamer specializing in one or two periods may feel under-represented.  This could introduce bias.  For now, I stick to number of painted figures.  Since the Collector attribute is an augmentation to the Big Three, I will keep Collector as a secondary metric. 

For demonstration purposes, I put in my own data (JRF) and then added five random wargamer profiles to populate the graph.  Raw data below:


 User   History  Craft  Game_Freq   Size 
 JRF         7         6             6            9 
 WG01     5          8           12            3 
 WG02     3          4           26            6 
 WG03     4          1           52            8 
 WG04     2          9             4            1
 WG05     6          5             2            4  

For JRF, I plugged in the following values: History=7, Craft=6, Game_Freq= 6, Size=9.  My rationale for each rating is,

• History (7) - consider myself an above average history buff with a large library, curious mind, and good research skills.  Would not consider diving into a new gaming period without hitting the books first.
• Craft (6) - I enjoy painting and modeling and prefer doing it myself but results are not to the level of museum quality that many of my colleagues produce.  Quantity has an edge over Quality.
• Game_Freq (6) - while I would enjoy gaming on a monthly basis and often average 12 games per year, six games per year is more realistic.
• Size (9) - with a collection of about 22,000 figures, I fall within the '9' category.  

With the preliminaries in-hand, how would this analysis appear in graphic form?  My initial thoughts prompted the diagram shown below in Figure 1.

From the diagram, JRF-9 ('-9' suffix denotes collection size and corresponds to the size of the bubble) is the large pink circle, centered at Historian=7 and Craftsman=6, signifying a large collection and bi-monthly gaming attendance.

I think an interesting exercise would be to have readers submit their Wargamer Attributes as specified above in the dimension-reduction exercise.  Then, this collection of gamer attributes could be appended into the graphic.  I, for one, would be curious to see where others place themselves within the broadly defined spectrum.  

If you want your profile data anonymous, submit your attribute ratings to me directly via the Contact Form.  I will anonymize your data before presentation.

Like so much, this exercise will remain a work in progress as refinements are considered.

500/5,000 Drawing RESULTS!

The results are in!

First, I want to thank everyone who participated in the contest and for those taking the time to visit.  Not everyone can win but many did and those winners ended with one of their top picks too.  An armload of books will be hitting the post office shortly.

Second, as the random sampling results show, making it into the Top 10 Commenters paid dividends.  Frequent commenting was rewarded in the manner in which the ballot system was constructed.  Also good to see a few infrequent commenters make it into the prize list.  Notice rather than the eight books offered up as prizes originally, I pulled ten names from the sampling bin.  Two of the more requested titles got tapped twice.

Anyway, on to the prize distribution.

Winner: El Grego 

Winner: Michael Peterson

Winners: AHunt &
Christopher (aka Axebreaker) 

Winner: Bluebear Jeff

Winner: Gonsalvo

Winners: Samuli S &
Phil (aka Ms. DBA) 

Winner: Phil (Associaton les Riflemen)

Winner: Black Powder 

Congratulations to the 10 winners.  To collect, simply send an email via the Contact Form (shown below) containing your preferred mailing address:

Several books were in many contestants' Top 3 list.  Hyde's Wargaming Compendium was one of the most requested.  With such demand, I will consider offering up another copy in a future Give-away.

What?  Ray did not have his name drawn?  How could that be?  Well, Ray, to maintain your unbroken string of uncanny prize wins, send me your mailing address details.  I have a Consolation Prize for you.

For the winners, enjoy the books and please let me know when they arrive.  

Renegade's Libyan Javelinmen

The 28mm Punic Wars project has not seen much attention in 2015.  In fact, the only other 28mm Ancients passing across the painting desk thus far have been eight of these exact same figures.  The earlier eight Libyans were the first figures off the painting desk in 2015.  As a bonus, I discovered my scribe failed to enter those JAN2015 javelinmen into the Painting Log.  Forty more points for the Painting Tally! 

These eight skirmishers are Renegade Miniatures picked up years ago when Renegade offered great value on their Regiment Packs.  The sculpting on the figures is always nicely done and the figures exhibit excellent facial expressions.  The eight Libyans will be fielded as two skirmisher stands for Impetvs.  Using a flash for the photo, the figures appear glossy.  That is not the situation in person.  

Book Drawing Ends Friday

As a reminder, the last day to enter into the prize drawing Give-Away is Friday, July 10.

If interested and having not yet entered, please visit 500/5,000 Drawing and leave a comment.

To have a valid entry into the contest, you must be a public follower of the Palouse Wargaming Journal and leave a comment on the blog entry linked to above.

Time is running out.

Painting Analytics First Half 2015

As I close out the Painting Log on first half of 2015, time to assess productivity at the painting desk.  Before tabulating the numbers, my sense was that 2015 started off with a bang and ended with a whimper.  Travel for pleasure and work cut into quality painting time and other distractions kept my eye away from the painting desk.  One of most enjoyable distractions has been the solo Battle of Raab game being fought out on my gaming table.  This battle has been raging since the end of April with a conclusion not yet in sight.

At the beginning of 2015, projects targeted for work included the 15mm Risorgimento, 18mm 1799 Suvorov, 28mm Napoleonics, and a start on the fledgling 28mm Great Italian Wars project (see Project Plans 2015). Examining Chart 1 (Adjusted Counts by Era) shows the Big 3 eras worked were Napoleonics, Risorgimento, and Spanish-American War.  As Meatloaf once sang, "two out of three ain't bad."

Even with the introduction of some Spanish-American War troops into the mix, Penninsular War and Italian Reunification dominated all others.  

Chart 1

When painting totals are considered from size or scale, 28mm garnered over half of all production.  All 28mm figures originated from the Peninsular War project.

Chart 2

Returning to my thesis that productivity began with a surge and then tapered off, let the evidence speak.  The "surge" was primarily confined to FEB and MAR as a number of Peninsular War units were pushed off from the production line.  The second quarter of 2015 witnessed a marked decline in output.  Still much variety in both era and scale.  With a bit of discipline and focus, I can reverse this declining output tendency in the second half of the year. 

Chart 3

Chart 4

In the overall scheme of monitoring painting production, 2015 appears to be on track for meeting my goals set out at the beginning of the year.  My projected goal was to paint 900 figures and accrue 3,800 Adjusted Painting Points.  At the end of June, 516 figures have crossed the painting desk worth 1,644 painting points.  Figure counts are ahead of schedule while Adjusted Painting Points lag projections.  One remedy to boost Adjusted Painting Points is to paint more 28mm figures.  Luckily, I have a bunch of 28s in The Lead Pile!

Chart 5

My 2015 goal to make some progress towards the 1799 project has not been met with much success.  While the project did experience a unit mustering off from the painting desk, that success was confined to one, 12 figure cavalry unit.  A couple of Austrian units are primed and in the painting queue but are still awaiting a painting slot.  To uphold one of the 2015 goals of getting an inaugural 1799 project game onto the table, I better start planning for it.  While I could substitute combatants in the later period uniforms, I prefer to field the game using the earlier uniforms and primarily AB and Eureka figures.  More cavalry and artillery could be called-up, for sure.  What battle should I consider?  Something small, of course.

State of the Painting Desk

With sizzling summer temperatures outside, one might think painting would pick up as I head down into coolness of the basement for long painting sessions.  That has not been the situation. Increased travel and more time spent outdoors on the bike and in the yard have decreased the amount of time spent bent over the painting desk.

Given those distractions, the paint desk did see some activity this week.  On the desk are three works-in-progress.  Up front are 24 Wargames Foundry Sikhs from the Indian Mutiny range.  These fine fellows will likely see service in one of Kevin's many colonial expeditions.  In the center are eight Renegade Libyan javelinmen to be fielded as two, four figure stands of skirmishers for Impetvs.  In the back ranks are 16 Wargames Foundry Landsknecht/Swiss handgunners.

It is the latter group of handgunners that is giving me the most consternation and hesitancy.  These represent the first of the many Renaissance figures I need to paint in order to fill out a collection purchased from Phil this past winter.  The problem is that I am filled with indecision about how to tackle these potentially, colorful troops.  When I gaze upon the serried ranks of Phil's excellent pikemen, I wonder, how can I do these justice?  Oh well, somehow paint will get applied.  Perhaps, after the first few of these kaleidoscopely dressed handgunners are under my belt, I will see the light.

One final note, I took advantage of Front Ranks' recent offer of one free figure for each BP10 spent.  When I made the 28mm Napoleonic push over the winter months, I discovered that several units were not up to muster.  Also needed to recruit a few more skirmishers too.   The 28mm Napoleonic project should be set for the foreseeable future. 

Having a forecast of hot, hot, hot for the next two weeks, an opportunity to escape the oppressive heat in the coolness of the game room would be welcome.  Another episode of the Raab battle is possible this long, holiday weekend.