Mayhem At McDanalds

I planned to try and get a game in last week as part of my attempt at regular 'Wargames Wednesdays'. Needless to say the best laid plans of men and all that put pay to this, but this week I was more successful, sort of. The game took place today as on Wednesday I went into town for some much needed 'me time', met up with friends, browsed a book shop etc and then promptly went down with Covid, which is really doing the rounds in this part of Bristol.

Still feeling rough but up for a game, I kept things simple as I knew my brain would not be up to anything too taxing, so plumped for good old 'Honours of War' and my 18thC India forces. Scenario wise nothing too fancy, which initially was going to be a simple meeting engagement, but once I'd set the terrain up, I went for one loosely based upon 'Scenario 25: Chance Encounters' from 'Scenarios For All Ages' by Grant and Asquith.

Both sides had similar forces and all the commanders were rated as 'Dependable', again to keep things simple for me. I did use the tweaks we had made for 18thC India, but only a few, again to make life easy for me. So with the table set up, troops deployed, it was onto the action. 

An overview of the table, with both sides either side of a stream, with morning mist obscuring the enemy.

The nominal objective of the caravanserai on one Ranald McDanald.

The Anglo-British troops South of the stream.

The Anglo-French troops to the North.

An oasis.

Both sides and their lines of march.

The end of Turn 1. The mist still lingered and neither side was yet aware of each other.

"Do you want to super-size your haggis burgers?".

The end of Turn 2. The mist lifts and both sides quickly deploy into line and the action begins.

The British cavalry moves towards the stream and comes under very accurate fire from the French elephants.

The British light infantry push forward towards McDanalds.

On the other side the French cavalry do likewise.

A gratuitous shot of an elephant!

Turn 3 and the British cavalry charge in and come off second best against the elephants and their supporting troops. At least they force the elephant back to reform.

The end of Turn 3. Both sides advance to close the distance between them.

The British are forced to refuse their right flank as the French cavalry hove into view.

Both sides light infantry enter the oasis.

The end of Turn 4. The British left flank comes under effective fire from the French, but elsewhere little happens.

The British left flank suddenly comes under pressure due to accurate French fire.

The end of Turn 5. Disaster on the British left flank as two infantry units are routed. On the right the British hold position as the French advance.

The British right flank holds as the cavalry manouevre to try and provide support on the open flank.

The British line breaks...

... but at least they force two french units back to reform, which is small consolation.

The end of Turn 6. With both sides unable to prosecute attacks on the British left, the French advance against the British right flank and comes under murderous fire from artillery and musketry.

A French unit is routed as it tries to cross the stream.

The French cavalry in front of McDanald's. Maybe they are ordering food on the go?

The end of Turn 7. The French push against the British right is devasatingly repulsed, but elsewhere there is no action.

The remains of the British left flank await as the reformed French troops once more move forward.

The French left flank is destroyed as it crosses the stream.

The French light infantry as marginally worse off than the British.

A Mexican standoff.

End of the Game

With only one more Turn to play, it was obvious that neither side would be able to reach McDanald's and the oasis, so I called the game a draw, with both sides having suffered similar losses. If anything the British were in a slightly better position, but did have the French cavalry lurking on their flank.

Post Game Thoughts

It was nice to finally get the game in that had sat on the table all set up for a couple of days or more. Luckily for me SWMBO doesn't mind if it's not too often (which its not) and that is doesn't get in the way of its use as a dining table (which it doesn't). So a few quick thoughts on the game etc.

• Sticking to games that you know and enjoy really paid dividends here, as it so often has these past few years. I only had recourse to look at the rules a few times, as otherwise the QRS and my understanding of the rules more than sufficed. This allowed me to concentrate on the game which made things flow and all the more enoyable for it, rather than having my head stuck in a rulebook for half the game!
• The 8-12 units per side once again delivered a good game and was perfect for this situation. If I was slightly more with it, I might have upped to say 15, to allow for a reserve, but this would have really extended the playing time. Short and sweet ticked all the boxes and didn't tax my brain nor my body too much.
• The British certainly had the advantage on the movement and the firing initiative rolls, whilst the French had the better shooting dice at the start. Making a game of it the French pushed forward to try and win quickly and suffered as a result, as the dice turned in favour of the British, who couldn't hit a barn door early on!
• The mat looked really good to my eyes with my 'jungle terrain' on it, which pleased me as I wanted to see how it looked for use with my long term plan for some Burma and Pacific theatre WWII games. I need quite a bit more 'jungle' type terrain, but this is pretty easy to sort out and will be a long term project too.

What Next?

Playing this game made me realise the value of my ImagiNations forces just for the 18thC, as I knew at a glance what was what etc. Having lots of armies, whilst nice, would to my mind complicate things, whereas this simple approach a la Nigel Stillman, just works for me. I did realise however that I still have lots of units still to paint!

Work on my WWII Normandy campaign has paused due to real life and rather than rush it, I've been focusing on some simple other projects that I can fit in in the meantime, but more on that in another post.

TTFN.

Fight For The Factory - An 18thC India Honours of War AAR.

Having enjoyed my first solo game since March, I thought I'd try and keep the momentum going with another outing somewhere in 18thC India. Like all kids with a new toy, I wanted to try and include my Factory model, for no other reason than I like having it on the table! Searching through my scenario books I took Scenario 16: Forlorn Hope 2 from Stuart Asquith's 'Scenarios For All Ages' as inspiration for a simple scenario. 

Simply put the Franco-Indian force is trying to make a surpise attack on the HEIC Factory, before it can be reinforced with more troops. The HEIC have added some quick field defences in the form of gabions to try and help bolster their defence. They have some Light Cavalry out scouting for the enemy, which they've failed to spot, but may turn up later in the game. The game starts as dawn breaks, with the Franco-Indian forces arriving out of the early morning light.

An overview of the table.

The Franco-Indian right wing.

The Franco-Indian centre and left wing.

The HEIC right wing, with its Dashing commander.

The HEIC field defences.

The Franco-Indian guns ready to open fire.

The end of Turn 1. The Franco-Indian right wing failed to move, but their left advanced and came under fire from the HEIC artillery. 

The end of Turn 2. Once again the Franco-Indian right wing failed to move! The HEIC right wing advanced to meet the Franco-Indian threat to their front. Both sides opened fire, causing some hits, with the artillery missing.

Both sides engage in musketry.

The end of Turn 3. Finally the Franco-Indian right wing gets moving, whilst their left wing closes with the HEIC. Artillery and musketry ripples out, with the Franco-Indian Sepoys routing as a result.

The Franco-Indian Sepoys rout, but the HEIC Sepoys take plenty of hits too.

Finally the Franco-Indian right wing advances.

Early on in Turn 4. The Franco-Indian right wing gets a move on, with a double move, finally bringing them into the game. The action hots up on the HEIC right wing...

... as the Franco-Indian Light Infantry charge the Sepoys, leading to both sides retreating back. In the musketry exchange, the Franco-Indian commander is killed!

The action kicks off on the HEIC left wing.

The HEIC Sepoys retreat back.

The Franco-Indian right wing retreats to reform, as the French Line Infantry take an additional hit as the Light Infantry retreated past them.

The end of Turn 4. The HEIC right wing is somewhat disjointed, but safe for the moment. The left wing however is under pressure.

The end of Turn 5. The action turns to the HEIC left wing and centre, as the HEIC Light Infantry are done for and rout.

The demise of the HEIC Light Infantry.

The French troops advance towards the HEIC Sepoys behind their gabions.

The Franco-Indian troops are in a good position, but are on 3 hits apiece and facing artillery and superior infantry.

The Franco-Indian left wing reforming.

A view from the Franco-Indian side as they press forward towards the objective, namely the factory.

Early on in Turn 6. The Franco-Indian troops rout the HEIC Sepoys, but lose their French Line Infantry in the process. The HEIC Line Infantry charge into the Franco-Indian Sepoys, surviving closing fire as they do so.

The HEIC Sepoys break, followed by the French Line Infantry.

The HEIC Line Infantry rout the Franco-Indian Sepoys, but have to retreat themselves, only just avoiding routing too.

The end of Turn 6. The HEIC right wing has retreated to reform, as their Light Cavalry arrives in the nick of time to support them. The Franco-Indian left wing has reformed and starts to advance.

With no troops left on their left wing, the HEIC troops are still in a good position, with the artillery and Light Infantry making it hard for anyone to assault the factory.

The 7th Light Cavalry arrive to save the day!

Colonel Hathi's elephant artillery somewhat isolated and alone.

The Franco-Indian left wing reformed, but now with a Dithering commander.

The Franco-Indian high water makr as the troops can only look on and ponder what might have been. Some Urn-Brew perhaps?

They couldn't hit an elephant even if they tried!

End of Game

With the arrival of the HEIC Light Cavalry and the loss of so many infantry, it was obvious that the Franco-Indian force was spent. The HEIC commander breathed a sigh of relief!

Post Game Thoughts

Well that was fun, even if it didn't go quite as I expected it to! As always a few musings on why this might have been etc.

• Frankly I thought that the artillery would be more effective, given that the Franco-Indian force had a heavy gun to bolster their attack. The problem was that they could only fire every other Turn (which I forgot early on!) and being Inferior Artillery, with troops behind cover, meant that they needed a 5 each time they shot to actually cause a hit. In fact all game the Franco-Indian artillery did little damage and certainly none on their HEIC counterparts. The Medium gun would have been better used in moving up to support their left wing and having the chance to get off a whiff of grapeshot.
• So attacking troops in entrenchments, behind cover or BUA's, then howitzers of mortars are probably a better bet. At least I have some so they need to jump up the painting queue.
• The gabions certainly helped keep the HEIC in the game, as without them I think they could have been overun rather quickly. 
• If the Franco-Indian right wing had not had two Turns of inactivity and had been able to make a co-ordinated attack, then I think things could have been harder for the HEIC. As it was they could deal with each attack in Turn, concentrating their fire where it mattered most.
• With the above being taken into account, I think it fair to up the strength of the Franco-Indian force, with certainly a howitzer/mortar and at least another Sepoy unit.
• Yet again the Franco-Indian force lost a commander during the game. Normally I like to do a random roll to see the quality of the replacement, but this time I just went with the rules and that they drop down  a level, hence the Dithering for the replacement.
• I rated the French artillery as Superior for shooting only, as per the amendments for the Austrian artillery, with all other stats being Standard. This feels right to me and I'll see what Dave thinks.

So there we are. Two games in two weeks: feels good! I even remembered to replace the light bulb with a brighter one and one that is more daylight in hue. It certainly made it easier to take photos, but it does cast quite a shadow. It is 60W so might replace it with a 40W one and see if it is less harsh.

What Next?

My painting mojo hasn't returned, but I'm hoping it will soon, so that I can add more core units to my forces. I think that after the concentrated spurt in advance of the CWD, I needed a break. After all it is meant to be fun and not a chore.

Games wise I think it high time for a complete change. I've had some ideas kicking around for some AVBCW action for some time, so might dust these off and see how they grab me. Probably something bigger than 2' x 2', but you never know. The only worry is that it might distract me away from the 18thC India project...

TTFN.