BLB2 Test game No2

For my last post of the year, I'm going back to last week when Richard and myself met up for another test game of Beneath the Lily Banners 2. We made a few mistakes in our first game and posted some questions on the League of Augsberg site, after some sound advice from the nice chaps there, we think were nearly there!!

We decided to place a village in the centre of the board for the French to attack. The French had 2 infantry brigades of 3 units, 2 horse brigades and a 3 Squadron Dragoon brigade. Most of the troops were drilled, but they had 1 guard unit and 3 Elite units. The Williamites also had 2 infantry brigades of 3 units, but only 1 of Horse and 1 of Dragoons. They had 2 elites and 2 raw units.

 The setup.

 The 1st Williamite Brigade containing the Elite Dutch Blue Guard, in the centre 

the Raw Selwyn's regt and at the end of the hill, The Royal Scots.

 The French setup, regt La Couronne holding the left flank.

 My plan was to hold the hill and try and keep hold of the village. The main danger

 being the 8 Squadron's of French Horse coming around the flank.

 The French Horse advance. On the left are the Guard class Gendarmes Ecossais.

 The 1st Dutch Horse brigade. 2 Squadrons each of regts Ittersom and Ginkel.

 In the village are the raw Royal regt of Fuzileers. On the right, Prince 

George's Danish regt, both on defend orders. with a small battalion gun 

next to it, on the left, Lesley's regt.

At our last game we found the artillery to be, for want of a better word, Crap!

But my gun on the hill and Posties 2 guns opposite certainly changed our minds. 

During the game La Courrone took 6 casualties due to artillery fire, and were pushed 

back twice, never actually coming off the hill. This forced Posties to waste valuable movement 

on them to keep them in the game, unfortunately due to some bad movement rolls this meant 

the attack on the village was delayed. So I pushed my infantry forward instead.

  A couple of bad movements rolls then ensued, with a no move and a 25% allowance. 

Which meant I could only move 4 units!!! Damn!!

 So the march to the French hill was halted, for two turns.

 But at least I could move the Horse into a position to charge next turn, meanwhile 

the French kept coming.

 The charges then ensued. Both Ginkels and the French Gendarmes performed a all or nothing charge, while 

Iittersom's failed to charge and took the charge at the halt....not good! The 1st squadron routed through the 2nd squadron then off the table edge. The 2nd were hit by the Ecossais as they followed up and were routed, then they failed to stop themselves pursuing after the 2nd squadron as they too routed off the table.

 A close of of Ginkel's Horse and the French Gendarmes

 While standing still for two turns, The Dutch Guard and Selwyn's were hammered by 

the two French guns on the hill. The Orange markers represents the unit being Shaken.

 Ginkel's Horse were victorious, and chased off the French Horse. 

The next turn they turned to face another 2 Squadrons of French Horse.

And unfortunately we had to end the game there, as we'd run out of time. For our next game were going to try and limit the cavalry to a support role, as we've not got any infantry into melee yet!! It was another learning curve for both myself and Richard, also Postie now has had a taste of the rules, let's hope he decides not to sell his 25mm Sedgemoor collection now!!

If I had to call the game I would give it as a French victory, the Williamite left flank was now non-existant.

See you in 2012!!!

Ray

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all you bloggers out there!!!

It's been a great year and I've enjoyed meeting all my new friends and followers.

I hope Father Christmas brings you all lots of toys to play with!!

Here's to 2012!!

Ray

Recently Painted No 42NYW Dutch Horse regt Heyden/Ittersom

Guess what??, yet another  two squadrons of Horse for my NYW project suddenly appeared in the finished box the other day, much to Richard's annoyance! Poor Richard is having trouble keeping up with me painting his French NYW figures. Which is not his fault really coz I get a lot more time to paint then he does, also his other projects have been calling him, "finish me finish me". So I think its a 25mm French Hussar unit for the Revolutionary wars first for him or maybe re-basing his Franco-Prussian armies that he's been promising himself for the last 3 years.................
Anyway on with the figures, these fine looking fellows represent the Dutch Horse No1 Heyden/Ittersum.
The regiment was originally formed  in 1665 as a regiment of Judges they were dissolved in  1668 and reformed in 1671 and were maintained by the state of Gelderland. In 1683 they were commanded by Frederick Willem, Baron de Heyden, after his death at the Battle of Fleurus in 1690, Henrik van Ittersum tot Nieuenhuis became their commander, finally in 1696 Frederick Christiian van Reede, Baron Aughrim became their commander.
The regiment was included as part of William III's invasion force and was sent in Ireland, they were present at The Battle of the Boyne and the Battle of Aughrim. After this date it gets a little sketchy, but they were definitely at Steenkirke and Fleurus.
Once again the figures are Essex, and bases from Warbases, they are based up for the excellent Beneath the Lily Banners 2 ruleset. The blue flag is from Warflag, while the oval shaped one is from Warflag with a little help from me!! Both flags date from 1696 while the regt was named Aughrim, as there is no info on previous flags, I've had to use a little artist licence, so apologies before anyone says anything!!!
Hopefully next week myself and Richard may get together for another test game, pics to follow as and when.

Ray

The 2nd Annual Analogue Hobbies Winter Painting Challenge

 "The 2nd Annual Analogue Hobbies Winter Painting Challenge"

I contacted Curt via his blog Analogue Hobbies, and have joined in the fun and games of his painting competition.
To enter the competition Curt will very cunningly get a 20 figure Viking unit painted for free, as to enter the contest each contestant has to paint up a Viking figure and send it back to him, earning an exrta 10 points. Here's a link to the rules.

Basically, whoever earns the most points will win a prize. Curt has come up with a scoring matrix to dish out the points.

Scoring Matrix

5 points per 25/28mm foot figure

10 points per per 25/28mm mounted figure

10 points per 25/28mm artillery piece or limber model

4 points per 20mm foot or unmounted horse figure

8 points per 20mm mounted figure

8 points per 20mm artillery piece or limber model

3 points per 15mm foot or unmounted horse figure

6 points per 15mm mounted figure

6 points per 15mm artillery piece or limber model

At the moment I've got 4 squadrons of NYW Horse all ready and raring to go, so once they're all painted and based I'll send off a few photos to Curt, to put up on his blog and I'll earn myself  36 points per squadron!!!

It all kicks off on 20th December and finishes on the 20th March.

So good luck to all you guys who entered. I'm out to win, so bring iot on guys!!!! But seriously my major goal is to beat my pal Fran, The Angry Lurker and I'm sure the feeling is mutual!!!!!

Recently painted No 41 NYW Dutch Horse Ginkel/Athlone

Today's recently painted are once again for my Nine Years War project, they are two squadrons of the Dutch Horse regiment No 21 Ginkel. 

They were raised on the 14th January 1625 and maintained by the province of Utrecht. Godard van Reede, heer van Ginkel became the Colonel of the regiment on 4th May 1665 and he was the only commander during the Nine Years War. In 1690 Ginkel became the Earl of Athlone and Baron Aughrim.

The regt came over with William's invasion force in 1688 and stayed in English service until 1697. They fought at The Boyne, Aughrim and possibly at Neerwinden and at the siege of Namur.

Recently painted No 40 NYW Clifton's/Lesley's regt

Once again the figures are from Essex (I really should have shares in Essex minis??) bases are from Warbases and if so inclined you can download the flags from one of my earlier posts, here!!

Clifton's regiment was the last one raised in 1685. Sir William Clifton was appointed by commission of 22 June 1685. He retired in May 1686 and was succeeded by Arthur Herbert, afterwards Earl or Torrington. Rear-Admiral Arthur Herbert was then Master of the Robes and one of the favorites of James II, who asked his cooperation in repealing the test acts. This Herbert refused to do and he was thus disgraced in March 1687, loosing all his appointments. His regiment was then rumored to be transferred to Major General Donough Maccarty, but it seems that this appointment did not come through. In April 1687 Sackville Tufton was appointed as colonel of Herbert's regiment. In the 1688 events Tufton was at Canterbury with his regiment and he later stated that he would gladly have fought against the Prince of Orange. Anyway, on 19 December 1688 the Tufton's regiment was ordered to Berwick. Sackville Tufton refused to pledge to the new government and was therefore succeeded by Sir James Leslie. Under James Leslie the regiment marched to Inverness. It then marched to reconstruct Fort William and was thereafter in the battle of 30 April 1690. From the Highlands the regiment was then moved to Flanders. James Leslie was succeeded by Emanuel Scrope Howe in November 1695.

The Howe regiment survived the 1699 disbandings by hiding on the Irish establishment. In 1704 the regiment participated in the battle of Blenheim. In 1709 the regiment participated in the siege of the citadel of Tournay. After Emanuel Scrope Howe died on 26 September 1709 his regiment went to Algernon Seymour, Duke of Somerset on 23 October 1709.

In 1694 the army under King William in person, at the camp at Hertogendale, on the 6th of June.The tenth,fourteenth, fiftheenth, seventeenth, Castleton's, and Lauder's (afterwards disbanded) regiments, were formed in brigade under Brigadier-General Stuart, in the division under Major- General Bellasis.

The Prince and Princess of Orange having been 1689 elevatedto the throne by the title of King William the Third and Queen Mary, their accession was opposed in Scotland, where the Duke of Gordon held the Castle of Edinburgh in the interest of King James, and Viscount Dundee aroused the Highland clans to arms. In con- sequence of these proceedings, the regiment was ordered to Scotland, in the spring of 1689; and it was stationed at Leith, as a reserve and support to the troops blockading Edinburgh Castle, until the beginning of June, when it was ordered up the country to join the forces under Major- General Mackay, who was retreating before the Highlanders under Viscount Dundee. The regiment joined Major- General Mackay about six o'clock on the evening of the 5th of June ; other troops also arrived, and the major-general being thus rein- forced, advanced against the clans, who instantly retired towards the mountain fastnesses. The 15th foot followed the retreating Highlanders to the borders of the wilds of Lochaber, and afterwards proceededto Inverness, where the regiment was stationed some time.

The regiment took part in the operations of this campaign, and the numbers of the confederate forces were so far augmented, that the progress of French conquest was arrested, the enemy was forced to act on the

defensive, and in the autumn the allies besieged and captured the fortress of Huy. The 15th formed part of the covering army during the siege; and afterwards marched to Dixmude, where they halted a few days, and subsequently went into cantonments in the villages along the canal of Nieuport, where they were stationed during the winter. 1695 From these quarters, the regiment was called in May, 1695, to enter upon the active services of another campaign, and it pitched its tents near Dixmude, where a small force was assembled under Major-General Ellemberg; at the same time the main army took the field under King William. In June, the Duke of Wirtemburg took the command of the troops at Dixmude; reinforcements also arrived ; and an attack was made on Fort Kenoque, situated at the junction of the Loo and Dixmude canals, with the view of drawing the French forces to the Flanders side of their fortified lines, to favour the design of besieging Namur. On the 9th of June, the grenadiers of the 15th, and other corps employed on this enterprise, drove the enemy from the entrenchments and houses near the Loo canal, and the attempts made by the French to regain this post were repulsed. A redoubt was afterwards taken, and a lodgment effected 695 on the works at the bridge, in which service the regiment

had several men killed and wounded. These attacks produced the desired effect; the fortress of Namur was invested, and the attack on Fort Kenoque was soon afterwards desisted from, when the 15th regiment returned to Dixmude.

During the early part of the siege of Namur, the 15th foot, commanded by their colonel, Sir James Lesley, were in garrison at Dixmude, a fortress of very little strength, under Major-General Ellemberg, a foreign

officer. On the 15th of July, this place was invested by a strong division of the French army, under General de Montal, who commenced the siege with vigour. Major-General Ellemberg failed to make that spirited opposition to the enemy which the circumstances of the case called for: he appeared to view the progress of the besieging army with apathy, and eventually called a council of war, to which he advanced several reasons why the town could not be defended, and proposed to capitulate to save the garrison, which was agreed to by the majority of the council of war, although opposed by others. When the soldiers were informed they were to become prisoners of war, they became enraged at not being permitted to defend the place, many of them broke their arms to pieces, and some tore their regimental colours from the staves, that they might not be delivered to the enemy. D'Auvergne states, in his history of this campaign, 'The body of the garrison had the same ' heart and soul with their comrades which did such wonders before Namur,' but the soldiers were delivered into the power of the enemy against their will. All the officers concerned in the surrender of Dixmude, were tried by a general courtmartial : Major- General Ellemberg was sentenced to be beheaded, and executed at Ghent on the 20th of November. Colonel Sir James Lesley, and several other officers were cashiered.

Recently painted No 39 - Danish, Prince George foot regt NYW

Back in September I asked you all for comments on how to paint up the Danish foot regt Prince George, I'm very pleased most of you agreed with me in saying, how I damn well liked!!!
It may well be wrong, they most probably wore the grey coat cuffed orange, bot I just couln't resist painting them in green, so painted they are, and pardon me for saying I think they looks pretty cool, (blowing own trumpet).
I'm not 100% happy with the photo's, every one I took made the figures look shiny, this is why its taken me so long to get them up on the blog, in the end I gave up and put these ones up.
Once again they're from Essex minis and bases are from Warbases.
If you like the flags you can download them for free, here!

And I've still not recovered from Sundays game yet either!!!!!!!!!
Slow breaths....Slow breaths..........

Batrep - Battle of Samsat 854BC or Ever had one of them games????

Ever had one of them games when you wish you hadn't turned up?
Ever had one of them games when have had a lot more fun spending all day doing the ironing and washing up?
Ever had one of them games when absolutely nothing went your way at all?
Ever had one of them games when your second in command on the day and your views as to how to set up were totally ignored by your king?
Ever had one of them games when your proved right all along?
Ever had one of them games when your in the bad books with the Mrs coz, this is your third wargame in ten days and she had to cancel her pal and her family coming around for dinner so you can play with your silly soldiers.........Yes?.............then read on my friends!!!!!!!!!!!!

And yes I was just a little upset!
So let the tale of woe begin.................

Unusually for a Battle Report I'm going to start this one and the end. For myself and the third in command BigLee, the end of the game was we picked out the ticket to be the underlings of King Surjit, before the game actually started!!!!!
Now I wouldn't say I'm the best strategic genius in our little group of sad patsys and I definitely wouldn't put Surj anywhere near the top either. For some reason he just wouldn't listen to our thoughts or reason, on how to set up. All we had to do to win the game was protect and not lose the fortress city of Samsat. We suggested forming all the close order infantry next to the city, with the Chariots and cavalry out on the left flank, harassing whatever was placed there. We had troops in the city so all bases should be covered. But alas NO, was the answer, so the Hittite King Surj the Doughnut got his way and we not only lost the Battle but also the city of Samsat.
The Assyrians - King Richard, Prince Fran, Smiffy and Dave.
The Hittites - King Surj, Prince Ray and BigLee. (See Lee's write up of the game)

 My set up, King Surj announced all bar three of the close order foot would 

protect our left flank???

 Our centre and right, made up of mainly BigLee's Chariots and skirmishers.

 Our camp, that's me Prince Ray in the chariot, we had to throw for what 

type of leader we were, I was the only loser to throw a one, so let it be 

known, I was the only buffoon!!!

 King Doughnut troops, Sorry King Surj's troops, the brightly coloured 

shields in the centre belong to our Guard infantry, to their left is our 

Guard Chariots with King Surj in the middle.

 The Rotters

Myself and Lee were horrified to see their setup, and we knew were where beaten before

 a dice was even thrown!!

 Look at all that infantry on the wrong side of the table??

 The Assyrian camp and skirmishers, which were facing my infantry.

 The Assyrian left, Their Chariots cavalry are on their left. Following 

down the line are their Guard and heavy infantry.

 Big Lee's chariots, fat lot of good they were!!!

Dave's  Assyrian skirmishers advance.

 Seeing what was facing us, myself and Lee wanted to advance 

and try and make a game of it, our request was denied.............

 What was in front of us??

Now I'm getting annoyed!!! I know for a fact that git Fran took loads of 

pics of my exasperated face as I couldn't believe our Kings decisions.

 The only meaningful units facing my infantry, two units of Smiffy's Light/Medium infantry.

 With a bow unit in front for cover.

 Breaking the Kings wishes I sent two LMI out to counter 

the skirmishers heading for my flank.

 Fran's Assyrian Chariots advancing towards the city walls.

King Surj just out of shot has moved a unit of chariots out of the city and is 

moving them up to the column of Fran's chariots on the hill

 Oh Crap, Assyrain re-enforcements on my left flank, don't worry 

they're only Camel munchers!!

 Smiffys only good unit, facing my and Lee's mass of troops, 

who are still standing picking fluff from their butts!!!

 Prince Ray, soon to be King Ray.

 Oh look??? Were still standing in the same place...........why? I here 

you ask............"for the right moment" according to King Surj??????

Utter disbelief ensues...... from both sides I might add!

 The Assyrian King, Richard the Magnificent and his troops.

 The Hittite left, one of my LMI takes a pounding from Smiffy's

Skirmisher fire. Then fails its morale test and has to stand disordered.

 My other LMI charges the skirmisher bows and trounces them. 

I pursued and hit the Javelinmen behind and another melee ensued, 

which was indecisive.

 Assyrian Camel munchers...or are they??

 The Rejects 

L to R, Smiffy (West Ham fan), Richard (looking excited), 

Fran (just chucked a spear), Dave (glove boy), 

Postie (GM), Surj (the doughnut) and BigLee (Sighing What could've been)

 Long shot across the table, this just about tipped me and Lee 

over the edge, its difficult to see but King Surj has just chased away 

Fran's chariots on the far hill, only to discover another Hittite army behind the hill, 

waiting to attack!!!!

 Don't care anymore..........

The chariots set up to face each other.

Camel munchers they are not!!!!

More like King bloody Tiger Tanks!!

When one of the Camel archers fired for the first time we were all stunned 

at the amount of dice they threw, other units on average were throwing 8 D6 needing 6's. 

The Tigers were throwing 24 D6....YES 24 dice, what the hell's going on here????

 Die Assyrian scum!!!

And they didn't!

 Die Hittite scum!

Which they did!

 Assyrian skirmishers, the Tiger tanks can just be seen behind.

 The Hittite camp, I should have stayed in there, had a beer,.......

chilled a little.........maybe visited the harem.

 Charge!!!

 King Richard's Chariots were defeated and pushed back.

 We'd had enough now, it was getting boring, so myself and Lee moved 

everything forward, much to King Surjit's disgust!

 Another charge of chariots, once again the Assyrian King was defeated.

 But it was all too late.

 Big Lee's Chariots.

The table at the game end. Soundly beaten, the Hittite troops abandon the city of Samsat to their rivals, The Assyrian's. Later that week King Surj was found hacked to pieces, his son and air Prince Ray took over the throne of the Hittite Empire and will live to fight another day.