The Battle of Cooking Pans - an Honours of War AAR.

Dave and I were unexpectedly able to meet up last week for a final game for sometime, probably until late Summer or thereabouts. So as Dave had recently finished some Pendraken AWI figures, we decided to give 'Honours of War' a run out with some tweaks to suit the conflict. In terms of details, please see below for Dave's info he provided in advance of the game:

The Battle of Cooking Pans: An Honours of War AWI Scenario.

"Large doses of sarcasm are required in this event"

Situation: 1781, The continentals are getting a grip and managing to put up a good show against the King's troops. Von Steuben has drilled the men and some standard tactics are available to organise the men although not all the militia are yet turned into the equivalent of regulars. The British see an opportunity to deal a blow to this attempt at organising a decent rebellion and have sent a brigade under Brigadier Farkin Tarquin to deal the blow. The Continentals are mustering to meet this threat and defeat it, General George Washing-Line is hatching a cunning plan.

Mission (both forces): Break the enemy forces i.e.  Brigade(s) must have more than half units "Done for" and forced to retreat from the field. It will be noted that the British have one brigade and the Continentals, two (2) brigades. Doing the maths the British have quite a task ahead of them, but then they do have Royal Ascent. Cavalry are ignored in the victory conditions, they are simply there horsing around.

Execution: British forces are deployed in a single brigade with an aim to get into the Continentals soonest, use the standard Honours of War SYW statistics. The Continentals will deploy one brigade up front to absorb the attack (choose either) with the other behind in support at the start, use the proposed AWI Continental statistics (attached). George can go where he wishes. British go first of course, play the game until you've had enough or a victory condition has happened or the bar has closed. Continental terrain may make it hard to move line troops to move around, so live (or die) with it.

British Forces:

Brigade Tarquin (Dependable but a bit chinny)

Light Bobs - Standard Light infantry

Highlanders - Superior Line Infantry

1st Infantry - Standard Line infantry

2nd Infantry - Standard Line infantry
Light artillery - Standard gunners

Independent Cavalry - Standard Light Dragoons (deployed 'at will') .. Note that Will is not actually at the battle, but he is happy for them to go anywhere with the British .. but not in advance of Brigade Tarquin, that would be Farkin wrong!

Continental Forces (under General George Washing-Line who is rather Dashing):

Brigade Trump (A Dithering fool, focussed entirely on his hair piece)

Virginian Militia - Inferior Line Infantry ... these guys stink

Green Mountain Militia - Inferior Line Infantry ... these guys make Baldrick high class

1st Continentals - Standard Line infantry, they know about soap

Brigade Stallone (Dependable Bostonian with a street brawling reputation)

Riflemen - Standard light infantry armed with rifles ... they come with their own trees

AWI Militia - Inferior Line infantry ... these truly stinketh

2nd Continentals - Standard Line infantry, these guys have used an iron and can do straight lines

Independent Cavalry - Inferior Light Dragoons ... hidden deployment at start (the cunning plan). Note location on map with trusty pencil and surprise the British when they come within ONE cavalry move of them and shout: "BOO" in an annoying American accent (which is of course REALLY annoying).

With the details of the scenario sorted, Dave left it up to me to come up with the layout for the game. I broadly used the map for the Battle of Chadd's Ford in the latest issue of Wargames, Soldiers & strategy as a guide, then tweaked it a bit to suit my scenery.

Sadly I have lost the notes I made during the game, which was nearly a week ago. Hopefully my poor ageing brain can remember enough to give a flavour of what happened. So without further ado...
 

The British are entering from the top left hand corner, with the Americans partially deployed on the right.

Brigade Stallone ready for action, with the riflemen on the left flank.

Things got off to a bad start for Farkin Tarquin, as a Poor command roll saw his Brigade unable to advance towards the enemy. So strung out in line of march, they crabbed onto the table, which we blamed on them having some Highlanders.

Seeing the indecision of the British, Stallone's Brigade moved sharply forward.

Turn 2 saw the British get their act together and start to move towards the pesky rebels. Brigade Trump arrived ably supported by General Washing-Line.

The British struggle to form all of their infantry into line, whilst their cavalry move off along the left flank.

Stallone's Brigade managed to gain the BUA, which the riflemen occupied, whilst the Militia and Line moved off towards the wood.

Dave ponders as Brigade Trump moves swiftly along the road, his hair billowing in the wind and acting as a sail.

Turn 3 and both sides start to close, ready for action.

With a fair wind, Brigade Trump rushed forward and deployed into line, ready to take on the Mexicans British.

Brigade Stallone have formed a defence in depth (or so they hope) and are ready to offer a refuse flank if the cavalry push past over the hill.

Turn 4 sees things really kick off, with both sides closing and the game resembling a school football match, with everyone crowded into one area.

Brigade Trump push towards the British who are arrayed along the fence line.

Brigade Stallone does the same, with the Riflemen facing off across a fence with the British.

Turn 5 and movement by the British triggers the suprise arrival of the American cavalry, who then proceed to roll a 'Poor' command, and so crab across the table. They mush have Scottish ancestors.

Brigade Trump reacts to the British who have moved off into the wood to try and turn their flank.

The fighting rages in and around the wood, with Brigade Stallone wisely leaving a unit back to protect their flank.

Brigade Stallone trading blow for blow with the British.

Turn 6 and the British suddenly gain the upper hand.

One of Trump's Battalions is completely blown away by some devastating fire from the Highlanders.

At least Brigade Stallone knocks one British Battalion back...

... but a Battalion of Militia is on the ropes after a charge by the British cavalry, who luckily fail to persue.

Turn 7 sees the British very much on top.

Brigade Trump, temporarily abandoned by General Washing-Line, rolls a 'Feeble' command and so all of his units have to fall back.

In the woods Brigade Stallone try to hang on.

The British cavalry advance towards the Militia Battalion, but are unable to charge them.

Turn 8 and the Americans succumb to the superiority of the British troops.

Despite the late arrival of the American cavalry, Brigade Trump loses another Battalion is therefore broken.

The same is true of Brigade Stallone, who reel back somewhat punch drunk, losing a Battalion and seeing the Riflemen pretty much done for, leaving their Brigade all but broken too.

 
Post Game Thoughts

Well, the Americans in the end were well and truly beaten. At one point they looked to be in quite a good position, but appearances can be deceptive. Still it was a fun game, with plenty of sarcasm and childish jokes as required by the scenario. So a few points on the game upon reflection:

• After quite a break from Honours of War, it was nice to playing a game with these rules. Once again we found that we rarely needed to use the rulebook, with the QRS sufficing, which in our book is the sign of a good ruleset. We did get a few things wrong, but nothing which materially affected the outcome of the game.
• I did not place my cavalry at all well, so much so that they didn't play any part in the game whatsoever, apart from providing comedy moments due to two 'Poor' command rolls in a row. I would have been better placing them on the right flank, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. 
• "Quantity has its own quality" may have worked for Stalin, but it didn't work for the Americans. The Inferior Militia simply were on the backfoot once they started taking hits and unable to rally any off.
• Coupled with the above, the Highlanders won the game for the British with two simply devastating volleys that destroyed two Battalions in as many Turns.
• With Dave away, this game may spur me on to finish a Brigade or two a side for my planned Imagi-Nations forces.

I'm not sure what or when my next game will be. Hopefully BKCII in some form or other, either AVBCW or some WWII, given that my Fallschirmjager have yet to have a run out...

The Battle of Tapio-Bickse, Hungarian War of Independence 1849 - a BBB AAR

Well if last weeks game was a bit 'left field', this weeks one certainly was. As planned we met up to fight a small battle from the Hungarian War of Independence, which to be honest I'd never heard of. At college we covered the effect of the 1848 Revolutions on Britain in terms of the Charterists etc, but what happened in Europe was only briefly covered if my memory serves me correctly.

As with all of the Bloody Big Battles scenarios, there is a nice piece of history included to put the scenario in context.  Without going into too much detail, broadly speaking our game starts with the Hungarians having caught part of the Austrian Croatian 1st Corps napping in the village of Tapio-Bickse. The Hungarians have pushed them out of the village, but the Croats have recovered and are about to counter-attack to try and retake the village. Both sides have suffered in the firrst encounter, leaving most of them Disrupted.

This is a very small scenario, with the Croats only having 2 Brigades of infantry, supported by some artillery and a cavalry Brigade. The Hungarians have almost double the number of troops, half of which are re-inforcements. The Croats importantly have better quality troops at the start, with the on table Hungarians frankly a pretty shoddy bunch. However the reinforcements are a different matter, being both Trained and Agressive. To quote from the Scenario Notes:

"Much will rest on how the first three turns go, while the Croats have a slight superiority in numbers and quality. It is set up so that dice favour them, they may be able to repeat the Otachaners' dramatic charge that routed both Dipold and Bobic and captured 10 guns. They could then be in a good position to block the road against Gorgey's reinforcements"

We were both looking forward to this scenario after last weeks game and Dave chose to be the Croats, with the caveat that if he lost he could blame it on history. Funnily enough this is an excuse that I've used before in my games! So with the table set we were ready to do battle.  

An overview of the table, with the main objective of Tapio-Bickse on the left hand.

Bde Dipold in Tapio-Bickse, with the Croats poised to launch an assault to regain the village.

Bde Bobics can be seen in column of march with their supporting artillery, whilst Mesterhazys' cavalry Bde have just crossed the bridge over the Felso-Tapio stream.

Things got of too a flying start with Rastic's Bde launching the predicted assault on the village. Dipold's Bde failed to halt them with Defensive fire...

...whilst Rastic's Offensive fire saw the loss of one stand of infantry, but leaving them Low on Ammo.

Losing one stand meant that Dipold's Bde became Spent as they were Raw infantry.

In the ensuing Assault, Rastic's Bde made short work of the Hungarians, with them losing two stands...

...which caused the Bde to break leaving Rastic in control of the village. Naturally Dave gave a big thumbs up to Rastic's Bde, whilst I was somewhat stunned, apart from uttering a few Anglo-Saxon phrases. Certainly not the best start for the Hungarians.

To add insult to injury, as Bobics' Bde advanced and deployed into line just outside of Tapio-Bickse, defensive fire from the Croats saw the Hungarian Bde lose a base and become Spent.

After an eventful first Turn, the battlefield looked like this.

The Croats were in a better position than the Hungarians, who had moved Mesterhazy's cavalry Bde forward to protect the gun on the hill.

After a blistering start to the game, Turn 2 seemed quite sedate in comparison.

As the Croats reinforced Tapio-Bickse, the Hungarians withdrew slightly and deployed their artillery, to try and form a better defensive line.

At least the Hingarian re-inforcements had started to arrive, albeit somewhat slower than hoped due to a poor command roll for Kiss' Bde, which then slowed everyone else down.

At the start of Turn 3, the Croats moved out of the village en masse, to take the fight to the beleagured Bobics Bde. Once again some stunning die rolling...

...led to another big thumbs up from Dave as Bobic's Bde was more or less hors de combat. My thoughts at this point in the game do not bear repeating.

Halfway through the Turn and the Croats are certainly gaining the upper hand.

A glimmer of hope finally arrives as the Hungarian reinforcements cross the bridge and start to become a threat to the Croat Bdes.

Mesterhazy's cavalry Bde at least managed to survive against twice as many cavalry, but was pushed back as a result. Bobic's Bde is not looking to be in too good a position.

The Hungarian reinforcements somewhat strung out, but getting close enough to start affecting the game.

The Hungarian reinforcements caused the Croats to have a rethink on their position, which led to them withdrawing partially into Tapio-Bickse.

The Hungarians deploy their artillery into a massed battery, but their line of fire is blocked by their own infantry.

A view from the Croatian side.

The Hungarian pressure has forced the rest of the Croat firces into the village of Tapio-Bickse.

The Hungarians try a form of oblique manouevre towards the woods on the hill to avoid the artillery in the village. Kaszonyi's cavalry Bde is moving on a wide arc on the right flank to try and threaten the Croatian cavalry on their own left flank. The remnants of Bde Bobics fails to move due to a poor command roll, leaving the bulk of the Hungarian artillery being unable to fire. A case of some Blue-on-Blue called for...?

The Croats can do little other than react to the general advance of the Hungarian troops.

Bobics Bde still refuse to move, causing immense frustration. the hungarian infantry have moved onto the edge of the woods, ready to push towards Tapio-Bickse. Kaszonyi's cavalry Bde have moved to the edge of the stream, forcing the Croat cavalry back to try and maintina their line-of-coummunication.

The Hungarian troops have moved into position at then end of Turn 7, ready to try and win the game in the final Turn.

Batter late than never, Bobics Bde have moved out of the way of the massed Hungarian guns.

The final Turn and could the Croatian troops manage to hold on to the village to win them the game? Kiss' Bde and Leiningens' Bde both move into the assault and the Croatian troops fail to halt them with Defensive fire.

Some good Offensive fire followed by an assault saw the Croatian troops comprehensively beaten, leaving the Hungarians in charge of the Tapio-Bickse and winning the game, literally with the last roll of the dice!

Once again what a cracking game! For once we actually managed to play all of the Turns and the outcome literally hung in the balance right until the final roll of the dice as to which side would emerge victorious.

Post Game Thoughts
So as always some musings on the game:

• Even though this was a very small battle in terms of the number of units, it felt much bigger as there was so much going on right from Turn 1. This is in large part to the way the scenario has been constructed, so all credit to Chris Pringle for this.
• We both felt that this scenario would make a good demo game for the rules, as there aren't too many units, therefore making it easy to get to grips with things.
• It was nice having some cavalry action that felt like it would have an effect upon the game. In fact for a future bash we may look at the 'Kurudere' scenario from the Crimean War.
• Once again this felt somehwat Napoleonic in nature, which is not suprising given the weapons used by both sides. In fact post game we felt that this scenario would not feel out of place in the Peninsula War. Dave is going to look into some scenarios from this conflict that may transfer well to BBB. Should be fun.
• Both of us have really enjoyed these games set circa 1848. So much so that I've ordered a Ralph Weaver book on the Hungarian Army for a bit of background detail and future 'what if?' scenarios. We may even look into playing some more of the scenarios from the Yahoo groups set during this war. 

Sadly this may be our last game for sometime due to Dave's work commitments, but what a last game to go out on if this is the case. I might get around to basing up some units for BBB and who knows even painting them!