Dresden 1813 The Battles for Germany

 

A couple of weeks ago we all went to Chez Helge for the 4th game in our Battles for Germany campaign. In this game the French were again the attackers in the 2nd day of the Battle of Dresden. The scenario focussed on the Allied right flank with Ney's attack against a combined Russian/Prussian force.

Set Up

Final OB with Brigadier Quality

GdB Starting Positions

French Plan

Helge and myself had a pretty clear plan for this game. We have understood that Artillery is not effective at long range and needs to start limbered so it can rapidly advance to Effective Range before deploying. With this in mine we deployed 3 Brigades with attached artillery. Our Veterans and our Légére were deployed in Skirmish order as they are also effective at a longer range. We focussed on our left flank with the plan to batter the Russian guns with both Artillery and Skirmish foree, thus weakening them before we did a rapid infantry attack. 

Allied Plan

The Allied plan was to hold the centre and left, and possibly flank the French left. What we did not comprehend was our abysmal ADC rolling!

Game Photos

The Allied right

The allied left

Graham's movement trays again worked brilliantly.

The French centre ready for action. The légére made one move and went into skirmish order.

The Game

The Allied Commanders

The Allied Troops deployed up to their maximum zone.

Russian Battery

All Batteries within effective range of each other, there was quite a bit of counter battery in the first few turns. It did go back and forth ....... 

........but a cavalry battle on the French left seemed to sort things..........

....................with the Russians losing their cannon on the centre high ground and their second battery between the high ground and Seidnitz collapsing with the 3 French Batteries larger intact. The Allies had now lost some of their Cavalry as well as Infantry.....the outcome was clear and on Turn 9 they decided to withdraw.

Summing Up

I felt our pre-game plan of attack really was quite effective and this was an easy victory and a very quick game. It will be interesting to see how we do as the defenders in the next battle, The Battle of Mockern.

Many Rivers to Cross- Turn 3-The Village

Ten days ago myself and Graham played our 3rd game in the Many Rivers campaign. This was the Germans third go at taking table 2 and really they had to take this time. The campaign is designed so that the Attackers have increasing support for each go at a table. Also as this is the third turn, the Germans can now have heavier weapons including manhandled infantry guns as well as antitank guns. I had a very good roll and ended up getting 18 supports, which I felt would be enough to turn the tide. This was 3 times the support that the Brits would have. 

 Forces

Guards Platoon 1, FM 11 (missing 2 soldiers)

FR 0, 5CD, Regulars

Supports (6)

Entrenchments

2" Mortar

A9 CS Tank

Schützen Platoon 3 FM 8 (fresh)

FR +1, 5CD, Regulars

Supports (18)

Engineer Team

Shabby Nazi Trick (fifth columnist)

Red Dice

MG34 Tripod Mount

Pregame Bombardment

Extra Schützen Squad

IG18 IG

Patrol Phase

I was happy with the results of the PP

The Game

This game was much different than the previous 2, and the German firepower with the increased support made a big difference. Graham also had very poor dice, where mine were quite good. The game was short taking well less than a couple of hours. Graham populated the 2 buildings in the centre with a section each but with the IG18 firing with 2 squads, as well as the 50mm Mortar team and the MMG team at close range all firing, it was not long before the section in the bunker started to crumble. Both the SL and the section JL were hit with the Bren team being wiped out. This cumulation of FM tests brought the British FM down quickly and Graham decided to withdraw. Finally the British were pushed out of The Village.

Summing Up

German Platoon #3 

Platoon Leader Outlook: Content

Men’s opinion: -3 (FM roll -1)

CO’s opinion: -1

German Platoon 3 Intact

German 1st Platoon has lost 5 dead 

German 2nd Platoon has lost 8 dead

British Platoon #1 

Platoon Leader Outlook: Affable (FM roll +1)

Men’s opinion: -1

CO’s opinion:  -1

5 dead, 2 missing next game

Well that was a very plucky defence by the British holding The Village for 2 turns with a single platoon. The Germans have now seen 3 of their platoons in action. Fortunately, Platoon 3 survived this combat with no losses, the CO has ordered them to Blitzkrieg the next table. This will see platoon 3, with the exact same supports, advance without delay to the Farm and the Forest. 

Saga Night- English vs Swiss

Last Thursday we had our monthly Saga Evening. This was quite well attended as usual with 6 games being played, 3 each from Bothe the Age of Vikings and the Age of Chivalry.

I again brought my Age of Chivalry English and took on Michel's Swiss warband. This was the first time I encountered the Swiss and I was quite curious as I also have a Swiss warband done and I was curious to see how they played.

We play the Clash of Warlords scenario from the main rulebook, this was a novel experience for me as well as I usually play the Chaos method from the Book of Battles.

English (5 Saga Dice)

Warlord

2 units of Foot Hearth Guard

1 unit of Foot Warriors

3 units of Warrior Bowmen

Swiss (6 Saga Dice)

Warlord

2 units Warrior Pikeman

2 Unit of Foot Warriors

2 Units of Levy Crossbowmen

This was a very carefully fought battle with both sides being slow to engage in combat but initially relying on shooting.

Initial Positions

The game flipped to the English left flank which slowed down moving into combat. I had to swing around my 8 man Hearthguard to take on the rapidly approaching Swiss Pikemen.

Finally some combat with the Swiss Pikemen taking on the English Heart Guard

Interesting game which ended up in a tie with the Swiss scoring 12 points and the English scoring 11. I believe I might try the Swiss in our next SAGA night.

Mounted Knights

Next Age of Chivalry units are the Mounted Hearthguard, as well as a Warlord. These are all Perry Plastics aside from one figure which is from their metal line.

Again these were a lot of fun to paint. I have started with a unit for the Yorkist faction in a War of the Roses game. The Warlord is based on one of the numerous Nevilles who fought for and against Edward IV. I have hand-painted the livery's on the other knights representing some of the minor aristocratic characters who supported the Yorkist faction.

This chap was given to me by Helge, one of the members of our club. As mentioned above it is a Perry Metal Character from the Agincourt range; Le Comte de Vendomme. He will be used as a French Warlord or more likely the Mercenary Knight for AoCh.

Foot Knights!

 

Next up to be photographed are the Foot Knights for my Age of Chivalry Warbands. These again are all Perry Plastics and I actually found them quite easy to paint. That is aside from adding heraldry!

Three units of Hearthguard with Sir Richard Ratcliffe, a English Warlord.

English Knights

French Knights

Knights for all sides

Again a lot of fun to paint.

English Long Bowmen

 

Over the last 6 weeks, I have been painting figures for SAGA Age of Chivalry. It has really caught on at our historical wargaming club in Montreal. At our monthly SAGA nights we usually having 10-12 players.

After some research, I decided to go with Perry Plastics for my figures. This ended up being a good choice as they are a good price, easy to assemble and a lot of fun to paint. I am also starting to appreciate that they are quite light weight in comparison to metal figures. I have designed and printed round 25mm bases and oval 25x50mm bases for my SAGA armies. These are all magnetised with a 1x10mm magnets, the fact that they are plastic helps with this and they certainly seem to be easily transported with metal boxes.

I know a lot of players finding the exact armour and accruements for the time period, and I do appreciate the medieval age was a period of rapid change of armour and weapons. I elected to do my best to be accurate but especially in respect to head wear I might be a little off for specific countries.

I decided to build armies for the English, Swiss and Yorkists first as they are quite different in organisation. Of course a lot of these figures can be used for other countries but I felt it important to put a couple of forces the table as quickly as possible. I think I have painted 12 units so far but I will start with my English Long Bowmen.

The Long Bow was integral to the English army during this period. They are also relatively unique in SAGA organisation to the English. They can also be hired as mercenaries by some other specific factions. I did do quite a bit of research on how to paint them and generally what I found it could be quite varied but I decided to go with basic colours of the time but adding several figures in the livery of the Yorkist faction of Edward IV. I also decided to do one specific faction in the livery of Sir Richard Ratcliffe. 

Three units of Long Bow Armed Warriors

In the Red and Blue livery of the Yorkist faction.

The Black and White livery of Richard Ratcliffe

Non specific but uniform clothing but with a touch of red and blue to keep them English. I will use this unit as my mercenary bowmen for other countries.

The figures are from the English Agincourt box in the first 2 groups and the last unit is from the War of the Roses box. I have to say that the War of the Roses figures are quite nice and I prefer their styling.

Midgard- Britons vs Romans

 

This past Saturday myself and PY got together for a game of Midgard, our second. In this game PY played the Britons while I played the Romans. We used the 300 point lists from the Midgard website.

We again played scenario 1 from the rulebook, I ended up being the attacker. I have to say the game did not go well for me. It is clear that I have a lot tp learn about tactics with this ruleset, the only excuse I have is that I am still learning the rules. 

I started an aggressive attack which caused me to lose 2 of my units almost immediately, I did push on but by the third turn my reputation had dropped to zero....game over!

I do enjoy playing though and I am sure I will get better with more experience. Some photos to follow.