The Battle For Heimsdorf 1844

As planned, I played my second game on the same 2' x 2' board as before, with only a few tweaks to the terrain to reflect as slightly less populous town. I had pondered on using the excellent Rebels & Patriots rules, but in the end plumped for Black Powder II as I was more au fait with them due to recent games, plus I wanted to see how they worked at this smaller scale engagement level.

The scenario was again a fairly simple meeting engagement, but with the added objective of seizing Herr Weissbrot and his beer, with Abdul the Abulbul Emir tussling with Count Ivan Skavinsky Skavar for possession of the beverages. Those of a certain age will remember this 'classic' Whitbread advert which was the inspiration for the scenario.

As previously, I would be using the Glory Hallelujah! supplement tweaks to the rules, as well as allowing each unit to roll for movement etc as if it had its own commander. I wasn't sure how it would work but have seen it used before on other Blogs, so worth giving it a shot!

Enough waffle from me and onto the game, with the captions telling the story.

An overview of the board, with the Count approaching from the South, the Emir from the North.

Herr Weissbrot and his beverages outside the church, possibly trying to replace the communion wine with one of his fine ales?

Mounted infantry on the Count's left.

The main force in the centre led by the Count.

An awful shot of the Light Infantry on the right (apologies).

The Emir leads from the centre too.

Mounted infantry on the Emir's right.

The end of Turn 1. The Emir won the initiative and moved quickly into Heimsdorf, but one of his infantry units failed to move onto the board. For the Count his Light Infantry failed to move and an infantry unit blundered into the orchard. No shooting at all as both sides had moved too far.

Both sides Mounted Infantry dismounted and faced each other across the duck pond.

The Count's troops advance carefully towards Heimsdorf.

The Emir emerges onto the town square as the Light Infantry, supported by artillery, take up positions overlooking the square.

The end of Turn 2. The Emir's failed infantry unit moved onto the board to support the dismounted infantry by the duckpond. Elsewhere commands were failed and the shooting was rather poor. For the Count he continued to push his troops forward into Heimsdorf and the dismounted infantry caused disorder on their opposite numbers.

The actions hots up across the duck pond, whose inhabitants seem blissfully unaware of the danger they are in.

The Count's Line Infantry close on the church but fail to hit the Emir's gun to their fore.

The Light Infantry skirmish with the Emir's troops.

The end of Turn 3. The Emir's Line Infantry occupy the churchyard and suggest nicely to Herr Weissbrot that he had better come with them in the interests of his own safety. Who was he to refuse such an offer? The Count's dismounted infantry having taken a few hits and disorder amde a disorderly retreat to safety past the orchard. At least he was able to cause some hits and disorder on the Emir's troops who had just taken 'possession' of Herr Weissbrot and his goods.

The Count's dismounted infantry make a retreat.

Line Infantry have taken their place.

The Emir's troops come under fire from two sides and are close to becoming shaken as well as being disordered.

The end of Turn 4. Some good shooting by the Emir's troops is countered by some good morale saves, but at least some disorder is caused. In return the Counts' troops give as good as they got. Both sides took advantage of some disorderly retreats, leaving Herr Weissbrot on his lonesome as the battle rages around the town square.

The dismounted infantry ready for action once again.

Another of the Count's infantry units makes a disorderly retreat to preserve themselves for round two.

The Emir's artillery is close to breaking and Herr Wiessbrot doesn't know where to turn.

The end of Turn 5. The Emir's Light Infantry cross the town square and 'escort to safety' Herr Weissbrot and his baggage train. His dismounted infantry make a disorderly retreat too, again to preserve themselves for more action. Seeing his quarry escaping, the Count orders a desperate last Hurrah! by his troops, which sees the dismounted infantry mount up and charge into their opposite numbers. The Emir's artillery is driven off leaving the square empty of troops.

The Count's troops control the square but the enemy is escaping with the baggage train of Herr Weissbrot.

Neither side can gain an advantage at the duck pond. The ducks carry on as if nothing untoward is happening.

As the mounted infantry charge in in what should be a one sided contest, the Emir's troops somehow survive and continue to fight toe to hoof with the enemy.

The Emir and his 'prize' make off escorted by the Light Infantry.

The end of Turn 6. The Emir escapes off the board with Herr Wiessbrot and his goods, but the Count desperately tries to salvage something from the battle by inflicting losses on the enemy. Yet again the dsimounted infantry against all the odds hang on to the bitter end, leaving the Emir to claim a victory, one that has luckily only cost him the loss of an artillery unit.

The Count's troops rejoin the battle too late to have any impact.

The stalemate continues at the duck pond.

The Count's Light Infantry try to inlict casualties as the Emir's troops withdraw.

How the Emir's dismounted infantry managed to hang on is beyond the ken of man!

The victorious Emir and a rather worried Herr Weissbrot.

End of Game

If only the Count's mounted infantry had been able to sweep away their opponents and make another charge, things might have turned out differently, but they didn't.

Post Game Thoughts

A fun game and quite a quick one, maybe lasting just over an hour or so. I'm glad I chose BPII for the game as it has given me much to mull over for this smaller scale action. What did I think of the game overall? As always a few thoughts:

• It was good to have Herr Wiessbrot as an objective for the game, rather than a control the town sort of one. Having to seize him and escort him off I thought would be a bit harder than it was, but the Emir got the upper hand early which allowed him to get first shot at nabbing the prize.
• I was fairly liberal with movement for the Line Infantry and upon reflection, I would go with the GH! option of allowing any Line Infantry to change into skirmish order during the game, which feels right for this sort of action.
• Both sides shooting was pretty ineffective and due to the terrain and small board, it was hard to bring numbers to bear to gain fire ascendancy as one can in a larger game. Also both sides wisely used the Disorderly Retreat option to preserve troops and to allow fresh ones to take their places.
• I still do not know how the Emir's Dismounted Infantry, who were Shaken and Disordered, survived being charged by Mounted Infantry. The former were hitting on 6's, the latter on 3's, so a combination of very good Morale Saves and then Break Test die rolls kept them in the game and to be honest allowed the Emir an easy exit off the board.
• It would be good to replay this sort of action again, contrasting R&P with BPII, but that's for another time and another scenario.

What Next?

Well time travelling again and the next outing will once again be set in Heimsdorf, but in 1744 and using the ever excellent Honours of War rules. The table will once again be tweaked to reflect a slightly smaller town (or should we call it a village?) and with a bit more of an open feel to give space for troosp to manouevre. I have plans for a game after that, but more on that anon.

My Japanese WWII order is on the post so if I'm lucky, I will receive that by the weekend, which I'm looking forward to. Then it will be a case of deciding do I start upon these or push on with painting my 19thC imagiNations troops? Knowing me it will be a mix of both plus some terrain building too. Lots to keep me out of trouble for sure.

So until next time stay safe and keep healthy!

The Battle For Heimsdorf 1944

I've had plans for another Black Powder game in the wings for a few weeks now, but real life has prevented me from getting it onto the table so to speak. So on a whim a few days ago I decided to get in a simple game of BKCII but on a 2' x 2' board. This is something I've done before and fancied having another go at some BUA fighting. In less than an hour I had the board set up ready to play the game the following day.

Force wise I went with a 'classic' Birtish versus Germans somewhere in NWE 1944. Eeach side had a Battalion of infantry there abouts and some armour and in all honesty I just took what I fancied out of the box. I had planned something a bit more thought out but was feeling a bit off after my Covid and Flu jabs the day before, so this was a nice and easy solution. Scenario wise it was who could control the BUA after 8 Turns, again to keep things nice and simple.

So without further ado:

An overview of the 2' x 2' board as viewed from the British side.

Allied bombers or artillery have already had an effect upon the village.

The road leading in from the East.

The village duck pond.

The road in from the West as viwed from the German side.

The main German approach road.

The town square, which needs a cross, memorial or something similar.

The German Fallschirmjager, with PzIV's and some Training School obsolete tanks.

The British with trusty Churchills support.

The end of Turn 1. The Germans have pushed cautiously into the outskirts of the town and are close to the churchyard. The British only have one Company arrive on the right flank and likewise move forward with caution.

The British infantry move forward covered by the Churchill, wary of any Panzerfaust armed infantry.

The Germans close in on the town square and church, with Panzer IV's in support.

The infantry line the road in preperation to moving forward.

The end of Turn 2. The Germans move forward slowly on their right flank whilst their centre holds. For the British their left flank Company and Recce arrive and all units push forward.

The Recce Company move forward but fail to dismount from their Carriers.

Infantry move through the orchard covered by a Churchill by the duckpond.

The British close in on the churchyard too.

The Germans advance on their right, but rather slowly.

The Germans bring up some ATG and IG support.

The end of Turn 3. The German right flank surged forward but failed to engage the Churchill by the duckpond. In the centre fighting broke out around the churchyard and the Germans occupied the church (shades of The Eagle Has Landed). The British Recce engaged the Germans in the sawmill, nearly KO'ing one unit, but the Churchill by the duckpond was suppressed by Op Fire, as was the one by the church, but by a Panzerfaust.

Fighting rages by the sawmill with a German unit nearly KO'd.

Likewise things hot up in and around the churchyard.

The British CO orders forward the Churchill Crocodile and support.

PzIV's cover the town square.

A Panzer IV engages the Churchill...

...as do some 251's.

The end of Turn 4. The Germans managed to KO the Churchill by the duck pond and an infantry unit by the church, but achieved little else due to poor command rolls. The British move forward where possible and have the Churchill by the churchyard suppressed by Op Fire. The Crocodile moves ominously forward and is in range with its flamethrower.

With the Churchill KO'd, the Germans pull after losing an infantry unit and the British push forward into the gap that is left.

The Churchill engages with the PzIV in the town square.

The Churchills vie for space.

The PzIV comes off worse as it engage the Churchill by the churchyard.

The fight at the churchyard intensifies.

The end of Turn 5. A poor Turn for the Germans that managed to achieve little due to failed command rolls once again. The British had a good Turn with the Crocodile KO'ing two infantry units and a Pz IV brewing up too.

The British try to consolidate their left flank as a Pz IV burns.

British reserves arrive and move up the main road.

The Crocodile has cleared the church and churchyard, with the former burning.

The Germans still hold the town square, but their hold is not a strong as it might be.

The end of Turn 6. The German reserves arrive on the left flank and they manage to KO a British Recce unit, but lose a Pz IV in the process. The British pushed forward where possible but had little to show for it.

The left flank is stalled as the Churchills push forward to the town square.

A bit of a traffic jam.

The German reserves arrive.

The end of Turn 7. The Germans manage to suppress a Churchill, but fail to do much else. In comparison the British KO a 251 and suppress another with their PIATs, whilst the Crocodile KO's another infantry unit and suppresses an MG unit too.

The infantry make short work of the German 251 half-tracks.

The British Recce AC brews up.

The Churchills dominate the town square and the churchyard.

The devastatingly effective Crocodile.

End of Game

With the German armour all but gone and over a third of their infantry, they began to quickly withdraw, leaving the British to consolidate their gains.

Post Game Thoughts

The game was fun to play and worked well considering how quickly it had been thrown together. I must admit I wasn't fully with it due to the after effects of the jabs, so things might have been fudged a bit here and there. For example I completely forgot about the off table mortars I had planned to use, until around Turn 3, ditto the artillery for the British, so I just carried on without them. As always a few thoughts:

• It was interesting to play the game without any off table support such as Artillery or Air, ditto the mortars for the Germans. It did highlight the fact that you do need a combined arms approach to achieve your objectives, which is one of BKCII's strengths IMHO. 
• Without the above support, the Crocodile was the game changer for the British, which I think I've mentioned before when fighting in BUA's. SMG armed units of man portable flamethrowers would make a big difference too. One day I might get my Soviet troops finished to give these a try out...
• The BUA's worked well, with the building and the 'gardens' clearly defined. There is a bit on confusion about Line of Sight in BKCII, with it limited to 5cm in a BUA, but you can spot concealed troops when within 10cm, so a bit of a contradiction. For the buildings they were a 6+ to hit and classed as a 5+ save which worked well and wasn't too tough.
• Both sides suffered from some poor command rolls, with the Germans coming off marginally worse. I could have brought their reserves on early but simply forgot!
• For this sort of game it is really worth spending the time on sorting out the scenario and OOB for both sides, with the points as a guide. In reality I had too many units to play with but at the time I enjoyed the game as it was and just went with the flow. Next time a more considered approach will be in order.
• I really enjoyed playing on a 2' x 2' table again, as you are into the action pretty damned quick. Setting the scene was fun too, sorting out the look of Heimsdorf.

Next Steps

As I was setting the game up, I thought I could leave the board pretty much as is and just tweak it slightly for different periods. So my plan now is to have a game set in 1844, using either Rebels & Patriots or BPII and then one in 1744 using Honours of War. Whether it works or not remains to be seen but it should be fun and I'm looking forward to it.

Hopefully one of the games will be played out this week, so watch this space. Painting is still sidelined due to half-term here in Bristol, so the house (namely the kitchen) is being used all the time so no free time to paint, but you never know. Also the weather is still unseasonably mild so I spending some time in the gardend doing Autumn planting, which is nice at this time of year.

So until next time stay safe and keep healthy!