Nap Campaign: The Siege of Opatow Castle (France) 24th April 1808

 

Gerard with what is left of the 4th Corps infantry are occupying Opatow Castle in the middle of the map. To the right is the village of Opatow. The whole area is described as rocky terrain and to keep it simple, I have reduced move distances by half but otherwise all units move as normal. i.e. artillery can move and deploy and all units are able to maintain formation.

Initial deployment looking north west. It has taken the allied army a half day (12 moves) to fully encircle the castle and therefore there are only 12 moves left for the day. If not concluded the siege will continue the following day.

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Map Moves 23rd April 1808

 

The overall situation after the day's moves on 23rd April.

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Battle of Steffanie (South France) 23rd April 1808

 

If you are new to the blog I would urge you to take a look at the previous post dealing with map moves which will provide context to this battle.

Top of the map is north. The French will deploy within the southern half and the Spanish will approach directly from the north deploying either side of the road.

There is a significant beach along the shoreline which is classed as rough terrain and therefore half movement speed and inaccessible to artillery. The 3 woods on the left are all dense and for the purpose of this game will be impassable. The dotted line is a track but units will still get command bonuses for troops travelling along it.

The buildings indicated are 2 farms.

Looking north west from behind French line.

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Map Moves 22nd April 1808

I will now cover the strategic situation as it unfolded on the 22nd April 1808. You will find previous map moves under the Napoleonic Campaign Map Moves label on the right.

An overview of the situation at the end of the day. 

 Continued -

Nap Campaign: Battle of Sandowa (South France) 22nd April 1808

 

A reminder of the situation at the end of the day on the 21st April 1808. After the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Loverna the French Army of the South is split in two.

Soult with the survivors of the 6th Corps (blue 6) are pursued by the Spanish and have yet to halt their rout.

Gerard (blue 4) and what is left of the 4th Corps and 2nd Cavalry Corps retreats north pursued by Wellington and the Anglo/Portuguese army. Gerard sees an opportunity to make a stand behind a river and is the scene for this action. 

The battlefield map. The French occupy the area to the north of the river with Wellington to the south including the village of Sandowa.

Looking north west from behind the allied position.

Continued -

A Blog Update

My aging body is serving as a reminder that I will not be able to wargame in perpetuity and that day when I have to hang up the dice may come sooner than I would like! 

There is still a good deal I would like to do before that day arrives and a reappraisal of how much time I can devote to the blog beckons. As readers will have noted, some of my games which could normally be completed in an evening, or a weekend at most, can take many weeks to complete. 

A significant part of the problem is the blog. I would estimate 80% - 90% of time it takes for each turn to complete is spent on preparing posts. My intention is to cut that down significantly but still maintain after action reports on most, if not all, the games I play.

You will notice a change in the next post, a Napoleonic campaign game, which will be more brief but hopefully still make clear how the action played out. 

The bonus should be more AAR's!

Pony Wars: The Homestead, Turns 25 - Conclusion

 Turn 25

An overview after movement and before firing.

Virtually all warparties are now circling or heading towards the central homestead including those on the high ground to the left.

The General decided that it would be suicidal to charge the great mass of hostiles chasing the stagecoach and, having ensured the stagecoach had arrived at the homestead, quickly formed a firing line on the western side of the farm.

The 2 remaining occupants of the stagecoach and the 2 ammo wagon drivers took position behind their respective wagons and began firing on the Indians.

In the exchange of carbine, cannon and arrows the final tally was 7 Indians killed and 3 troopers.

Continued -

Pony Wars: The Homestead, Turns 17 - 24

 

An overview at the end of turn 16 looking north.

Turn 17

An overview of the situation around the central homestead.

Zooming in on the action. The hunters decide that survival is more important than continuing the buffalo hunt and quickly join the US Cavalry at the central homestead. There are simply too many Indian warparties on the prowl!

Continued -

Pony Wars: The Homestead, Turns 9 - 16

The situation at the end of turn 8.

 Turn 9

The turn began with the arrival of the buffalo close to the north east homestead.

Hunters arrived to the south of the south east homestead and will seek out the buffalo.

Continued -

TBW Miniature Flags

A brief interlude from the wild west. I have just received the below from Michael of TBW Miniature Flags and bring it to your attention.

If you are setting out on a Waterloo project I heartily recommend this book which contains the flags you will need for all nations and units. The 16 page A4 book provides guidance on attaching the flags, full orders of battle, a map detailing initial deployment and 3 pages of flags. You have a choice of flag sizes, A or B. With A being slightly smaller. This is useful if your preference is for smaller flags or you have smaller castings such as Heroics & Ros. My own flags align with size B.

The flags themselves are absolutely superb and I only wish it had been around when starting my project. 

Different scales are provided for including 10mm, 13mm Epic, and 15mm for Waterloo. Other battle specific flags include Gettysburg and Wavre 1815.

More information can be found at https://www.thebattleofwaterloo.com/, and a link has also been added to the list on the right.