The second Battle of Sauk Meadows

Thaddeus Markgraf, photographer to royal houses of Europe captures the events of the day.

A week last Thursday Seth came around to mine and we played another game of Sharpe Practice using the American Civil War collection. Seth had bought with him a rather nice 19th Century photographer - Dixon Miniatures I think - to record the event.

We played the Attack on an Objective scenario, I defended with the blue-bellies and Seth attacked with the sucesh.

Confederate troops sweep unopposed up the turnpike.

It's been over a week, and I've been away on business since, but reading my scribbled notes, the forces were:

Union

• Leader status III
• Leader status I
• 4 groups of 8 infantry with rifled muskets
• Leader status II
• 3 groups of 8 infantry with rifled muskets
• Leader status I
• 1 group of 6 skirmishers with rifled muskets
• Leader status I
• 1 medium gun with 5 crew

Union artillery, primed and ready to unload canister upon the Rebels

Confederates

• Leader status III
• Leader status I
• 3 groups of 8 infantry with rifled muskets
• Leader status II
• 2 groups of 8 infantry with rifled muskets
• Leader status I
• 1 group of 6 skirmishers with rifled muskets
• Leader status I
• 1 group of 6 skirmishers with rifled muskets
• Leader status II
• 1 group of 8 cavalry with mixed weapons
• Leader status I
• 1 medium gun with 5 crew

We used the 1864 lists so that there was not such a huge disparity between the starting points values of the Union and Confederate forces. The Confederates started with a Force Morale of 11 while the Union started with a 9

Captain Joshua Scrivener encourages his troops to the fore.

As we are playing quite large games, one thing we are trialling is putting an extra blank chit/card into the deck/bag if either player has more than 10 Leader / Command cards in the deck, the blank card has two roles:

1. If drawn as the first card out of the deck it counts as a Tiffin
2. If drawn at any other time it breaks a sequence of Command Cards counting towards a random event.

Union skirmishers take position on the scrubby knoll.

The early phases of the battle were a huge success for the Confederacy, supported by a screen of skirmishers the main force of the infantry were pushing up the road towards their objective with no Union troops to be found. The Confederate horse also started a sweep out to their left flank.

Eventually though the Union troops started to trickle on to the battlefield and it seems that the grey (and brown and other shades) tide may not have such an easy journey.

And still the Rebels pushed on

Detaching off the sergeant with a group of infantry to cover their right flank, the Union captain pushed his main force through the woods in front of his objective, while the cannon and skirmishers covered the left.

Soon the Union skirmishers were taking pot-shots at the advancing rebels and some were soon seen falling in their ranks.

Lieutenant Harry Parkinson leads his Confederate horse in a brutal charge on the Union right flank.

In a flurry of activity the Union gun was wheeled into position and loaded with canister (four command cards put to good effect), but, it was unable to fire during the course of the game and the rebel skirmisher fire was soon racking up shock points on the crew.

The Union foot pushed through to the fore of the woodland and let rip a volley into the Confederate ranks, slowing their implacable advance.

Parkinson is mortally wounded and his troopers retreat in disarray

The Confederates came on and their cavalry raised to the gallop and swept into the single group of infantry protecting the Union right flank. Fisticuffs ensued and the Confederates had a big advantage of combat dice. But, it was all to nought, the Confederate roll was terrible, for the loss of no Union troops the Rebel Lieutenant was mortally wounded and three more of his riders were felled.

The horse turned tail and ran from the field.

Unable to overcome stiff resistance the Confederates withdraw.

With a strong Union presence covering their objective and their best chance of capturing it retreating in disarray the Confederates broke off the attack and retreated licking their wounds.

I'll not be able to get a game in now for a few weeks, but more troops are on the painting table ready to join the next battle.

The Confederate left recover their dressings after pushing through the fields.

Captain Nathaniel Phillips sees his plan come to nought and orders the withdrawal

Newly painted figures often fare badly, the Confederate gun only activated the once!

Not tidying away the El Cid collection

After Thursdays game of Lion Rampant, rather than putting the El Cid collection away I decided to get it all out and run through a few ideas that I had for using Hail Caesar for the period and also 'just because' 

The El Cid forces I have are a huge collection of figures and I've been playing a lot of skirmish games of late, it's good to see forces on the table that look like armies.

In previous games using the 'official' lists the Spanish cavalry have pretty much bowled over the Berber infantry and that did not feel right to me, so, I equipped all the Berber foot with Long Spears and made the Berber foot with hippo-hide shields Stubborn. If you were using the lists both forces came out at about the 440pt mark.

I set up the table pretty sparse with just a few rolling hills and then dropped the forces on. The Almoravids were just a solid line of infantry with light horse on each flank while the Christians presented a solid front of Caballeros backed up by their infantry with the Andalusian content holding up their right flank.

Berbers

Left Flank

Unit Clash Sustained Short Long Morale Stamina Special Points

Berber light cavalry with spears and javelins 5 3 2 0 6+ 4 Feigned flight 19

Berber light cavalry with spears and javelins 5 3 2 0 6+ 4 Feigned flight 19

Berber light cavalry with spears and javelins 5 3 2 0 6+ 4 Feigned flight 19

Left Centre

Unit Clash Sustained Short Long Morale Stamina Special Points

African Mercenary medium infantry with long spears 7 7 3/0 0 5+ 6 "Tough Fighters

Stubborn" 31

Berber medium infantry with mixed ranks of long spears and bows 6 6 3 2 5+ 6 Stubborn 30

Berber medium infantry with mixed ranks of long spears and bows 6 6 3 2 5+ 6 Stubborn 30

Berber medium infantry with mixed ranks of long spears and bows 6 6 3 2 5+ 6 Stubborn 30

Berber light infantry with bows 5 5 3 3 6+ 6 23

Berber skirmishers with javelins 3 2 2 0 - 4 11

Berber skirmishers with javelins 3 2 2 0 - 4 11

Right Centre

Unit Clash Sustained Short Long Morale Stamina Special Points

Black Guard medium infantry with long spears 7 7 3/0 0 5+ 6 "Tough Fighters

Stubborn" 31

Berber medium infantry with mixed ranks of long spears and bows 6 6 3 2 5+ 6 28

Berber medium infantry with mixed ranks of long spears and bows 6 6 3 2 5+ 6 28

Berber medium infantry with mixed ranks of long spears and bows 6 6 3 2 5+ 6 28

Berber light infantry with bows 5 5 3 3 6+ 6 23

Berber skirmishers with bows 2 2 2 2 - 4 12

Berber skirmishers with javelins 3 2 2 0 - 4 11

Right Flank

Unit Clash Sustained Short Long Morale Stamina Special Points

Berber light cavalry with spears and javelins 5 3 2 0 6+ 4 Feigned flight 19

Berber light cavalry with spears and javelins 5 3 2 0 6+ 4 Feigned flight 19

Berber light cavalry with spears and javelins 5 3 2 0 6+ 4 Feigned flight 19

Berber light camel riders with spears and javelins 4 3 2 0 6+ 4 17

Christians and Andalusians

Left Van

Unit Clash Sustained Short Long Morale Stamina Special Points

Spanish Caballeros medium cavalry with spears and javelins 8 5 3 0 5+ 6 27

Spanish Caballeros medium cavalry with spears and javelins 8 5 3 0 5+ 6 27

Spanish Caballeros medium cavalry with spears and javelins 8 5 3 0 5+ 6 27

Spanish Jinetes light cavalry with spears and javelins 5 3 2 0 6+ 4 Feigned flight 19

Right Van

Unit Clash Sustained Short Long Morale Stamina Special Points

Spanish Caballeros Hildagos heavy cavalry with spears and javelins 9 6 3 0 4+ 6 Tough Fighters 31

Spanish Caballeros Hildagos heavy cavalry with spears and javelins 9 6 3 0 4+ 6 Tough Fighters 31

Spanish Caballeros Hildagos heavy cavalry with spears and javelins 9 6 3 0 4+ 6 Tough Fighters 31

Spanish Jinetes light cavalry with spears and javelins 5 3 2 0 6+ 4 Feigned flight 19

Right Flank

Unit Clash Sustained Short Long Morale Stamina Special Points

Andalusian medium infantry with spears 6 6 3 0 5+ 6 Levy 20

Andalusian skirmishers with bows 2 2 2 2 - 4 11

Andalusian Jinetes light cavalry with spears and javelins 5 3 2 0 6+ 4 Feigned flight 19

Andalusian Jinetes light cavalry with spears and javelins 5 3 2 0 6+ 4 Feigned flight 19

Andalusian Jinetes light cavalry with spears and javelins 5 3 2 0 6+ 4 Feigned flight 19

Support

Unit Clash Sustained Short Long Morale Stamina Special Points

Spanish heavy infantry with spears 7 3 3 0 4+ 6 26

Spanish heavy infantry with spears 7 3 3 0 4+ 6 26

Spanish medium infantry with mixed ranks of spears and bows 6 6 3 2 5+ 6 Levy 22

Spanish medium infantry with mixed ranks of spears and bows 6 6 3 2 5+ 6 Levy 22

Spanish light infantry with crossbows 4 4 3 3 6+ 6 21

Spanish skirmishers with bows 2 2 2 2 - 4 11

Spanish skirmishers with slings 2 2 2 2 - 4 11

I would be playing solo, the Hail Caesar mechanism of issuing orders and testing for success lends itself to solo play. Randomising for first turn the Spanish were off, true to form the Caballeros surged forwards leaving their infantry and Andalusian allies wondering what happened.

The Almoravids countered pushing their infantry forwards with both wings of light horse surging around the flanks of the Hildagos. The Christian cavalry continued their advance and the Spanish foot reacted to the Berber light horse deploying their skirmishers and crossbow against them while pushing up with the rest to support the Caballeros.

The action was now starting to develop, the Andalusian contingent was able to fight off the Berber horse before them, driving them back in some disorder with the first unit of the game being lost - one of the Berber horse. On their left the Christian foot were also able to keep the Berber cavalry and camelry at bay with concentrated bow fire and support from the Jinetes.

In the centre the Caballeros prepared their charge with a barrage of javelins driving off the African skirmishers while the Berber foot responded with barrages of bow fire.

Now was the time for the decisive point of the battle, the Caballeros committed a unit on the left to charge down the Berber archers while in the centre two units of Caballeros Hildagos crashed into the Almoravid foot.

On the left the Caballeros broke and ran down the Berber bowmen leaving the Almoravid right flank wide open.

However, in the centre the Caballeros Hildagos who charged the Berber foot and African Mercenaries fared much worse. The long spears of the Berber foot were able to disorder the unit opposing them and both they and the African Mercenaries fared much better in the resultant combat and even though they only managed small wins in each combat terrible morale tests for the Hildagos saw both units broken.

 With the Spanish's only heavy cavalry division now out of the game there seemed little point in continuing, the Caballeros on the left would have been able to exploit the open flank for so long before the Spanish centre was rolled over.

I only played for a few hours on and off but it was worth it to get the collection on the table again. I do think that I would benefit from another table though, there is rather a lot of stuff to squeeze into a 6ft frontage these days.

Some more imaged from the game:

Caballeros Hildagos with supporting Jinetes

Caballeros Hildagos close on the Almoravid lines

Cresting the hill the Caballeros prepare to fall on the Berber foot 

Caballeros and Berbers

And a view from the other side.

Andalusians prepare to repel the Berber horse on the right flank.

The action in the centre

Berber cavalry and camelry under fire on the Spanish left.

Berber light horse

The first casualties of the game.

Lion Rampant in the Age of El Cid

What with cancellations, business trips and vacations I've been on somewhat of a gaming drought this year, sum total so far for the first quarter of 2018 is four games and that is a terrible figure for a me!

I've purchased a copy each of the Osprey rules, Lion Rampant and The Pikeman’s Lament and decided to give them a go using the extensive El Cid collection. Bruce and Sasha came over on Thursday evening and we gave Lion Rampant a go.

We used the sample Berber and Spanish Christian lists from the book and as advised played the Bloodbath scenario. Dicing for sides, I would be the Spanish while Bruce and Sasha took the Almoravids.

Rolling for our Leader Skills I threw a 4 and got Insipid, probably the worst roll you can get while Sasha threw a Braveheart, I'd be avoiding challenges this game. I did have a bit of luck, as I was the Attacker and the Almoravid force was made entirely of four point units I would deploy all my force after theirs and at least get to put my Leader as far as possible from any potential challenges. 

In the early turns I was having some terrible fortune with my order activations, pretty much the entire Berber force would activate and then I'd count myself lucky if a second activation succeeded. It did pull together after a while but I think that my Leader and his Caballeros spent the first eight turns stuck to the table edge.

I'd pushed my foot serjeants (must be mercenaries, I don't think I'd rate contemporary Spanish foot this well) pretty much up the middle of the table to tempt the Black Guard and his Leaders horseman and the bait was took, it was especially gratifying as the serjeants were in Schiltron when fighting the cavalry.

Both Berber units were soon retreating and it was gratifying that they both failed subsequent rally tests, the Black Guard eventually shuffling off the board edge - one rule we got wrong is that we were treating retreats as a full move rather than a half move - the Berber Horse were left with a single model, the Leader.

By this time my Caballeros had gotten moving and were able to mop up a couple of units of Berber spearmen, all the time keeping out a wary eye for 'challenging situations' from the Almorhavid leader.

The way the game ended was quite farcical, I'd reduced the entire Berber force down to just their leader, but as I still had five units left we were not rolling for the end of the scenario so I had to just keep trying to move my Leaders unit to keep out of challenge distance while trying to block his single model using my other units and the 3" rule.

Eventually I managed to block him in with a unit of my foot serjeants and finish him off.

All in all it was an enjoyable game and I was able to get the El Cid collection out for the first time in about a year. But the ending did seem a bit stupid, Al Sasha had lost his entire force but having passed his 'Lost half points' and 'Became last unit from your side on table' he was able to spend about five turns stalking a challenge with my general before I finally did for him.

We need to play some more scenarios, but I wonder if there is enough in these rules to maintain interest over the course of several games.

After looking at the photos I've decided my buff cloth looks a bit bland and have spent a few hours gluing patches of static grass and clump foliage to it.

American Civil War: Union (11)

It's a sad state of affairs when you run low on figures to paint for a particular project, but that happened this week when I polished off the last few unpainted figures for the Union faction for the ACW project.

The mix of miscellany was the Union half of a pack of Perry Miniatures ACW Casualties, a Wargames Foundry Zouave that chum Seth gave me and a Warbases badger from Drew - we do live in the Badger State after all, although the American badger is similar to the European badger they are not entirely the same and I did mine as Brock.

The figure drought is over though, I assembled another unit of Union cavalrymen while on vacation and the post from the UK arrived with packages from Warbases and Arcane Scenery in the past few days.

American Civil War: Confederates (11)

It's been a non-productive couple of weeks, the first first week we were on a vacation in Florida, and although kayaking, manatee viewing and visiting Disney World are great fun they are not conducive to getting any figures painted. Last week I was on a business trip to Georgia and came back with a rotten cold so gaming activities are curtailed.

I did manage to do a bit of figure painting since the last update though. Before I went away I had done the base-coats on a Confederate 3" Rifle from the Perry Miniatures American Civil War Artillery set, so between the vacation and business trip I managed to get the highlights done.

The bases were done this weekend in time for the blog update. I tried not to get too much snot on them :)

The crews are individually mounted and the gun in un-based, allowing me to switch crews with the 12lb Napoleon with a Union crew that I painted back in December.

The vacation was not completely devoid of gaming activities, I did assemble another unit of Union cavalry in Florida and they made it back safely.