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.

18thC India - Bagging the Baggage

Solo gaming has been noticeable by its absence here these past months and to be honest I can't remember when I last got a game in! But with the end of British Summer Time and SWMBO out for the evening, high time I thought to set up a simple game, mainly to re-acquaint myself with HoW and our on going 18thC India tweaks.

To keep things simple, both sides has the same number of troops, with the only difference being the better French artillery and any variance in the quality of the commanders. In the end the French ended up with a Dashing one, with everyone else being Dependable. The nominal fluff for the game was that some rhubarb was being transported along the road, with the French trying to capture it and the HEIC to rescue it. Simples.

An overview of the table, with the HEIC at the bottom and the French at the top. The board is 2' x 2'.

The end of Turn 1. Both sides advanced, except the French right flank that rolled Poor. The HEIC right flank got a double move, but the paddy fields slowed them down somewhat. Both sides artillery caused a few hits, nothing more.

The end of Turn 2. Both sides once again advanced and fire rippled out across the front, with the French getting the upper hand, forcing back one HEIC infantry unit to reform.

The HEIC Infantry have had to fall back to reform.

The HEIC struggling through the rice paddies and both sides begin to accrue hits.

The end of Turn 3. The HEIC left flank has fallen back to provide a better defensive line as the French push forward towards them. Both sides shooting is effective, with a unit of French Sepoys being Done For and a HEIC one having to fall back to reform, which is easier said than done with Inferior Morale.

The HEIC left flank in some trouble.

The HEIC Afghans have ahd to retreat to reform also.

The HEIC Light Cavalry hope they can move far enough to charge the elephant.

The French left flank in some trouble too.

The end of Turn 4. The French right flank once again rolled Poor to move and elsewhere there was little movement, other than the HEIC right flank pushing forward slightly. The French Artillery easily Routed the HEIC Sepoys who fell back through the HEIC Infantry, causing a hit on them.

The Sepoys rout back.

The HEIC right flank keeps putting the pressure on the French left.

A view of the French left flank.

The start of Turn 5. Once again the French right flank rolled Poor, whilst the HEIC attacked the French left flank in what was a bit of a confused melee.

This is all a bit 'Lionel Messi'.

The results of the melee, with the French elephant and HEIC Infantry Done For.

The end of Turn 5. Only the French right flank is still in good order.

The HEIC left flank try to form a cohesive line.

The HEIC right flank is not in good shape, but the French left flank is only marginally better.

The intact French right flank.

Early on in Turn 6. With limited movement, it was all down to the shooting. The French right flank lost a Line Infantry unit as well as their Brigadier, with the HEIC right flank losing their Sepoys.

The demise of the French Line Infantry and their Brigadier (red 6 die).

The Sepoys rout.

As do the HEIC Light Cavalry.

The end of Turn 6. The HEIC right flank is all but gone, with the French Light Cavalry having an open flank to exploit.

The HEIC Afghans trying to reform.

The only good defensive line left for the HEIC.

The open HEIC right flank as seen from the French left.

A view from the French side.

End of Game

With that the HEIC called it a day as they had no real prospect of holding on, given that their right flank was gone and the left flank was facing impenetrable jungle, leaving rambling Syd Rumpo and his carog of rhubarb in the hands of the French.

Post Game Thoughts

After so long away from the table, it was great to get a simple solo game in! A few quick thoughts on the game:

• The tweaks we have made to the 18thC amendments seem to have worked well, but more on that in another post when I've had time to collate a few things. It certainly felt different to 'normal' SYW games though.
• Having varying levels of quality for the Sepoys etc really does work a treat, with their Inferior morale making them much harder to keep in the fight, which feels right based upon what I have read.
• The HEIC and French troops are to be used carefully, as although they are a lot tougher and more effective than the Sepoys, they can still be Done For quite easily if you are not careful.
• The 2' x 2' was once gain perfect for this small game to test the rules. I probably had a bit too much terrain and could have reduced the number of units slightly, as it did feel a bit cramped at times, but minor issues and easily rectified.
• Having re-read parts of the rulebook prior to the game, it is amazing what you pick up that you have simply missed before! An example being that a unit within 2cm (5cm in the normal rules) of the commanding General can rally off one hit. This helped keep the French Line Infantry on their right flank in the game, as it was enough to keep them from falling back to reform. Time for more -re-reads methinks!

With the evenings now getting dark much earlier, I hope to be able to resume my painting for these forces, as I have plenty sitting in front of me ready to go under the brush. I had hoped to get back to it ealrier but the unusually warm and sunny weather has continued here, with it not feeling like November is just around the corner!

Hopefully another game soon, most likely more 18thC India but maybe some BKCII, which rather shockingly I haven't played at all this year!

Oh and I must really get around to putting in a brighter light bulb in the dining room so these games don't look so dim.....

TTFN.

HEIC Factory

I've been meaning to take some photos of my finished Blotz mdf model that I picked up at a local wargames show in August. This featured in the recent game Dave and I ran at the CWD. Normally I go a scale down for my buildings, but at only £5.00, this was too good a bargain to pass up. I had planned to add more detail, but time was against me and I finished painting it the afternoon before the show! Still I don't think it looks too bad and am pretty pleased with the result.

The finished model with it's worn whitewash finish.

The fine surface polyfilla render applied to the walls has worked a treat.

I had planned on painting the door and entrance facade with Indian style decoration.

The rear of the factory compound.

Some 10mm figures to help give it a sense of scale.

Fortunately the width is just big enough for my 40mm wide bases.

Having a bigger courtyard than I would normally get with 6mm buildings, means I can populate it a bit, which is nice.

Painting

In terms of painting, this was the process I followed:

• Everything was given a black undercoat, which helps seal the mdf, making it easier to paint the follow on colours.
• The buildings and walls were given a good coat of beige, from a random DIY tin I had lying around.
• These were then given a good coat of undiluted Devlin Mud wash, which was allowed to dry thoroughly.
• The walls and buildings were then given a dry brush of GW Bleached Bone (or the current equivalent), making sure that the strokes went vertically on the walls, as anything else looks wrong. This helps to give the impression of rain staining the walls which naturally runs down them!
• Finally a rough drybrush of white was applied, varying the amount in places to help give that weathered and worn look. 
• The wooden beams were given a dot of dark brown to make them stand out against the white. I wasn't too precious about any white showing on them, as whitewash and plaster gets everywhere.

To be honest when I started painting, I thought that it was going to be a horrible mess, as I was in a bit of a rush. Fortunately the process worked well, as I'd used this technique before, but the pressure of the occasion made me doubt it!

As mentioned above, I had planned on adding some Indian decoration in places, but actually not having the time to do it means that this can be used for Siciliy or North Africa, for the odd game where it might be appropriate.

So I hope you like it and found how I went about it useful. For the first time in ages I've got a small solo game planned and set up, which is fun, before I sit down and watch the final of the Rugby World Cup. I hope it's a cracker but the weather might be iffy in Paris, whichs is a sahme, as watching the All Blacks in full flow is sublime, or the South African winger Cheslin Kolbe who is scarily fast.

TTFN.