AR for FoB: Engagement at the River Coa

After 4 years of painting toy soldiers, making terrains and dithering over rule sets, 5 days ago I told myself to take a rule set and play a game. I made one previous attempt with Le Feu Sacre, but got bogged down in the details and did not finish the game. An informal poll conducted by myself on TMP appeared to suggest that Field of Battle and Le Feu Sacre are the most popular mainstream rulesets played by solo wargamers, like myself.

I like historical scenarios so I picked the Engagement at the River Coa, with which I was already familiar. I used the following order of battle. I used the random die generator on the Piquet Yahoo Site.

Order of Battle

British (9 units, 7AMP,excellent sequence deck)

Crauford(D10): (C-in-C) Light Division
Beckwith(D10): 1/43rd Light(D10,D8), 2/95th Rifles(D10,D10),3rd Portuguese Cacadores(D10,D8)
Barclay(D8): 1/52nd Light(D12+1,D8), 1/95th Rifles(D10,D10),1st Portuguese Cacadores(D12+1,D8)
Anson(D12+1): 16th Light Dragoons(D12,D6),1st KGL Hussars(D8,D8), 1 Bat RHA(D10,D10)
French (18units, 20AMP,average sequence deck)
Loison (D12+1): (C-in-C) Ney's VI Corps French Army of Portugal
Simon (D12): 4e(D10,D6),5e(D10,D6),6e(D8,D6) Btns/26e Ligne; Legion du Midi(D12,D4); Legion Hanovriene(D10,D4); 1 Bat FA(D10,D6)

Ferey (D12): 1e(D12+1,D8)2e(D10,D8) Btn/32nd Leger; 4e(D10,D6),5e(D10,D6),6e(D12,D6) Btns/66th Ligne; 1 Bat FA(D8,D6)
Lamotte(D12): 3rd Hussars(D12,D6), 15th Chasseurs(D12,D6), 1 Bat HA(D10,D8)
Gardanne(D10): 15th(D10,D6) and 25th Dragoons(D12,D6), 1 Batt HA(D10,D8)

I have no line hussars or chasseurs painted, so I had to use some guard and line lancers and some guard chasseurs.

Terrain (roughly 2x1 miles)

I have a 9x5' modular terrain table(no roads yet), so I set up something similar to the historical setting. The River Coa is in the extreme west, the class III town of Almeida is in the north central and the Vale of Maida is 2/3 of the terrain east. There is a class III forest blocking direct access to the bridge of the River Coa, with class I terrain, north of the forest. A small forest represents the vale. The River Coa is not fordable. The rest of the terrain is class I.

Action Plan

The French units all start east of the Vale of Maida, with the orders to advance to the bridge over the River Coa. French victory point locations were placed just west of the Class III forest north of the River Coa and at the north edge of the bridge.

The view looking from east to west with the French forces in the foreground.

The British situation was a little different as I tried to mirror the historical situation. Crauford starts the game with Barclay on the south side of the River Coa, he has deployed Beckwith far forward in around Almeida. Anson is deployed north of the River Coa, but west of the class III forest. Even though all the British infantry units are light infantry only the Cacadores are deployed in skirmish order. Crauford has ordered Beckwith to reconnoitre forward, Anson is deployed in order to protect Beckwith, in case he engages the French. Barclay has been ordered to hold the bridgehead to cover any retreat of Beckwith and Anson. British victory points are placed north and south of the bridge.

Fitting the Rules to the Scenario

I do this with trepidation as this is my first go at the FoB rules and I know little about wargaming. To make the scenario work, I need a few extra rules though. Since this is a reconnoitre/retreat scenario for the British. I need a visibility rule. Using standard FoB measures, I make visibility at 1/2 mile (36"). That seems simple, but I also need some way to spot the French for the forward British units, plus a method for Command Groups to communicate with each other. So if the French are spotted (come within 36" of any British unit), then the British unit or the CG Commander needs to move in order to contact either the CinC or another CG Commander in order to activate the specific CG's orders. Contact is defines as being 1/8 mile (9 inches). This does have the commanders running about, going out of command with their units. We will have to see how it goes. Maybe in the future, I can work out some ADC rule to serve this purpose. So here we go!!!

Looking north at the town of Almeida, the 3rd Cacadores are deployed forward.
Looking from west to east.
The Game

Turn 1:

The French advance with Simon's brigade leading the way.
Barclay deploys the 1st Cacadores east.
The 3rd Cacadores are enveloped by the leading French brigade. The 26e ligne fire, the legion du midu fire, Cacadores fire and fall back. The legion du midi engage in Melee with the Cacadores (down 3UI), they rout back. The 43rd retreat back out of command. The 2/95th have to extricate them selves from Almeida (lucky Sharpe is there!!!). Beckwith's rally attempts fail.
Routing cacadores.
Barclay informs Crauford that the 1st Cacadores have seen the French advance. Crauford contacts Anson, he then advances through the forest to support Beckwith's withdrawal. The RHA are left with Crauford to protect the withdrawal. Barclay sends the 52nd forward and deploys the 1/95th in line to protect the bridgehead.
Back at the front, there is lots of action. Anson has broken through and is causing havoc among the French (lucky die throws help). Legion du midi are destroyed in Melee. Great cards for the British, the Light Dragoons destroy 6/26e and the KGL Hussars destroy the legion hanoveriene. The 2/95th somehow or other escape intact from Almeida and withdraw.

Turn 2:

The British cavalry take Gardanne's cavalry units in the flank. Multiple fires from the French FA and HA, as well as elements of Ferry's infantry brigade soften up Anson's cavalry. Eventually both the 16th Light Dragoons, the KGL Hussars and French 15e Dragoons are destroyed and the 25e Dragoons rout off the table.

Aside from the cavalry the British withdrawal is going well. But then tragedy strikes Crauford roll a D12 survival test and gets a 1 and dies. Beckwith of the 95th is promoted to CinC and MG Picton gets teleported in as GC for the Beckwith's brigade. The French cavalry under Lamotte advance west of the forest with Ferry's Infantry brigade following. Picton successfully rallies (it must be the tophat) his new brigade and they start their withdrawal to the bridge.

Turn 3:

The advance of both the British and French forces is quite rapid, but on the second IP generation the die is equal, the cards are reshuffled.

Turn 4:

All elements of Barclay's brigade are south of or on the bridge. The 1/95th and 1st Cacadores are in position to give flanking fire to the French advance. The 2/95th are attempting to deploy in line to also provide flanking fire. The RHA under Anson is in position. The 43rd are almost there.
The RHA, 1/95th and the 1st Cacadores fire with devastating effect (and good die). The 4/26e ligne and the 3e Hussars (masquerading as lanciers polonaise) rout and the 5/26e fallback.
But alas, the 43rd taking a flanking fire from the French FA and are destroyed.

GAME OVER as all the British units are now south of the bridge.

The Reckoning

I think I have probably made some errors in the counting, but I got as follows.

British: 3 units lost, 2 victory points achieved and at least 17 AMP's lost.

French: 5 units lost, 1 victory point achieved and at least 14 AMP's lost.

Who won, I am unsure, I will let you judge. I did have a fun and I will definitely continue to use the FoB rule set.

Terrain Table: The Modules

What was going to work for me!

I have spent a lot of time over the last year looking at personal terrain projects on the internet. I had tried a terrain mat and found it was not to my liking. I liked the continuous sweep of the landscape, but disliked modular road and rivers. I also found that modular hills did not seem to work well either. They just do not connect to the terrain itself. At the same time, I wanted something flexible which could be changed about easily.

I have had some experience with terrains as I built the below terrain for my son's GW Lord of the Rings figures about 8 years ago. It came out ok and at the same time I learned a few things.

After looking at various materials, I decided to stick with styrofoam insulation. I took a lot of my ideas from Clarence Harrison's Quindia Studios, I just wish I was as skilled and painstaking in my work as he is.

I like lightweight materials, so I used 1/2" insulation and 1/8'MDS boards. All my modules are going to be 2x4' or 1x4' in dimension. Liquidnails® was used to attach them together. Previously, I had used flock directly on the styrofoam and although that had worked ok I liked Clarence's idea of using terrain matting. I used a Woodland Scenics® vinyl backed mat; it had some rigidity that I liked, but was also moldable using a heat gun.

One of the biggest problems with modular terrains is that unsightly gap between the boards so I thought I would cut the terrain mat so it was 1/4" bigger on 2 sides then the underlying module.
As you can see with the 2 boards in the foreground, they have been fitted together with a slight overlap of the terrain mat, thus easily obliterating the gap. The neat thing about using the vinyl product is that it's rigidity allows you to slide the 2 overlaps on top of each other. The trick is to glue the mat to the styrofoam with a gap of 1/2" from the edge of the board, this allows you slip the vinyl under each other.
The Hill Module

One of my modules had to have a hill, I wanted one that I could place a small village on or even a church. It had to be a also an impregnable redoubt that a small number of men could hold out against a much larger force. Something like in Sharpe!

I took the 2x4' module and cut a second piece of styrofoam as below, I smoothed the edged with this neat tool I found at Home Depot.

The terrain mat was then laid out on the original board and cut to shape.
I use a combination of white glue and hot glue to attach the vinyl to the styrofoam. This holds it in place well, but is not a permanent bond, in case I want to change the position.
A third board is then attached in a likewise fashion.
I then start to build up the board using drywall compound.
Push some different size stones into the wet plaster. I build up the road using wood filler as it is much more durable then drywall compound. Use white or PVA glue to bond the whole thing together. Let dry.
Use the glue gun to attach some pieces of terrain (rubber walls). Do not worry about the gaps, as it will all come together. Let dry overnight.
Paint the whole thing with the watered down burnt sienna (GW Vermin Brown). I use a cheap acrylic paints from an art store. Let dry well. It is shiny because it is wet.
Heavy drybrush with yellow oxide (GW Bubonic Brown). Go out onto the terrain mat. Start adding a thin veneer of drywall compound to the road. Sprinkle sand into the the drywall. Paint the road only with burnt umber (GW Scorched Brown). Let dry over night.
Moderate drybrush the whole hill including walls and road with Buff (GW Bleached Bone)
Now for the fun. Use an Earth Blend fine turf on the slopes of the hill and out on to the terrain mat. Work some Burnt Grass coarse turf into the bases of the walls, into the gaps between the walls and between the large stones on the slope. I used Yellow Grass fine turf on the summit. The flocks are all Woodland Scenics® products.
Spray the whole thing heavily with very watered down PVA glue, make sure it dries clear.
An overview.
Detailed view of the road.
Detailed view of the slope. Looks ok, I think.
Water: The tricky bit!

Rivers are what make a terrain for me. I just do not like the look of modular rivers laid on terrain mat. I use a product called Envirotex Lite®, it is a 2-part epoxy resin that makes superb water, it can be coloured and dries hard.

As you can see below, 2 modules have already been built with streams. I want 2 basic layouts with streams on the terrain, one that cuts the terrain in half and the second that runs down the middle which forms a small island of land.

Here is the first layout, as you can see I need to finish the 1x4' module (detailed below). The modular nature of the terrain allows me to move the river up and down the long axis of the table as need be, here it is in the middle.

Here is the second layout with protected island.
I use a propane torch to form the river bed, great fun! It gives a nice irregular rocky look. I next have to line up the modules so they will go together. I use tongue depressors glued to the styrofoam as an additional support. As you can see it is easily cut with a blade. Do not cut it though, until you have poured the 2-part epoxy.
I again use wood filler to match up the modules.
Sprinkle some large and small stones into and along the side of the river.
Put a bit of black paint in the deep recesses of the riverbed and then paint with the burnt sienna. Let dry, then dry brush first with yellow oxide and then buff
Before you pour the water place some Burnt Grass coarse turf along the riverbank, and then spray with the watered down PVA glue before you pour the water, let dry. Mix up the epoxy well, add a tiny amount of colour (I used a dull green to make it murky) and then pour the epoxy into the river bed. If you want a rough surface run an old paint brush through it about 5-6 hours after it has been poured. It takes 24 hours to cure. You can do a second pour if you like. The match was not bad, although I would of liked the water on the right to be a little more murky.
Well here is how it looks assembled, still lots of work to do, but a good start. I have used the yellow grass fine turf lightly sprinkled over the mat to blend things together, this makes a hugh difference as you can see.
A look at the village on the hill in the far east of the terrain.
A look at the farm house and orchard on the north of the river. Lots of command stands, but no troops!!

What's left...

I still need to figure out where the roads all go, this is complicated as they have to line up with multiple configurations of the modules. See here. I need to blend the terrain together a little better and work on the interfaces between each module. I also need to get the oak side rails of the table screwed on, the side pieces above are just temporary. I will post a final post, I hope within a couple of weeks.

And finally, I need to read all those rule books I have obtained in order to figure out how to use all this stuff.

(1050)

Terrain Table: The Table

For sometime now, I have wanted a terrain table. I started off painting 28mm Napoleonic figures for the fun of it and enjoyed the uniform research. Over the last couple of years, however, I wanted to learn how to war-game. It became immediately apparent to me that wargaming with 28mm figures is a challenge. I researched basing as detailed in an earlier post and came up with a fairly flexible plan which allowed me to either use 12-18 figure infantry (Le Feu Sacre) battalions that could later be easily upgraded to 24-36 figure (Général de Brigade).

Clearly to war-game at the corps (2-3 divisions) level, but controlling individual infantry battalions, I would need a big table. I live in a 3 level condo with the living space on the second floor (first floor to you Europeans), sleeping space on the third floor and an undeveloped attic on the fourth floor. We completed an attic renovation in December of 2007. To sell this to my two teenagers and their step-mother, I had to agree to a plan with the the majority of the space being devoted to a big family room.

I cunningly kept quiet about what we would do with the alcove off the main room. Once the renovation was complete, I quickly threw up a miserable 4'x8' foot table using a terrain mat. See here. I had successfully marked my territory. I could now initiate the master plan.

Next, I carefully calculated that the biggest table I could fit in the space, was 12'x5'. This fitted with my plan to use both 2'x4' and 1'x4' modular terrain pieces (to be discussed in future post). The great thing about all the wargaming blogs out there is that you can look at what others have done. What I was looking for was a very stable table, that at the same time was relatively light weight. Where the alcove has a peaked ceiling it also had to be easily movable, so I could pull it out to gain access to both sides of the battle field.

Lord Ashram's table seemed to fit the bill, but his is 6.5'x4' in size. Could I translate his construction style to a table which was twice as long? After contacting him, I found out that he used some bookcases from IKEA.

I bought 6 of them. I also bought 6 packs of castor wheels that I found at IKEA, these were well made with a steel ball-bearing construction. I hate assembling IKEA stuff, but the 6 legs went together quickly with their caster wheels.  
When I got home I realised that maybe I should of got 8, as the span of 12' seemed a little long to be supported by just 3 of the book cases. 
I was also limited by the fact that my car is small, and the longest length lumber that I could take home was 6'. Anyway, I went for it, knowing that only once the table was assembled  could I assess it's stability and mobility. I use finished poplar as it is harder and more rigid than pine, but almost as light. The table of course had to have "square" corners so it would accept the terrain modules without difficulty. It was important to get the two long sides perfectly straight. Knowing the lack of skill in my cutting lumber, I opted to get the highest grade pre-finished and accurately cut lumber, I could find. I just wish I could find good quality wood screws in the US, I had to do with the usual garbage you get at Home Depot. I wish I could get those Robertson screws that you can get in Canada, a Philips is a poor substitute.
Anyway, here it is all tied together and fortunately the structure was quite rigid.
I then added some pine cross pieces (4 and 6" widths) every 4' to support the terrain modules. I may add some 2" width additional cross supports, but for now the present construction seems 

to support the the partially completed terrain modules on which I have already started to work. I am very happy with the result. I will wait until the first set of terrain modules are completed to fit the oak side pieces.
Come on get going the soldiers say, we do not like it on these little tables!!!