A Slight Technical Hitch!

I was about half way through the Tourane game when a mishap occurred with the camera. During the process of remounting it on the tripod it slipped out of my hands and although I managed to break some of the camera's fall, it nevertheless landed lens first on the floor.

After launching a torrent of abuse at the ceiling and recovering some sense of decorum I tentatively tested the lens. Mercifully it was still working apart from the zoom function. It was partially jammed limiting my ability to get closeup shots.

I nursed it through the rest of Tourane and also the subsequent ACW skirmish at Rorketon but it was clearly in need of attention.  

The pandemic is not the best of times to organise a repair and have been informed it will be at least 2 - 3 weeks before it is returned. Rather than wait, I set up the table to play the next ACW campaign game with the intention of using my old camera.

Sadly the photographic results were generally poor with only 2 or 3 worthy of consideration. I have therefore decided to wait for the lens repair which will mean a hiatus before the next AAR is posted. 

On the plus side, I will be using the extra time to get more figures and terrain painted. I have 3 significant Napoleonic games lined up which I will hope will further advertise the benefits of 6mm. In order:

Campaign - French v Anglo-Portuguese force. Almost 2,000 figures and ready to play.

Battle of Talavera - 4,500 figures. Good progress on painting additional figures, mainly Spanish, with the end in sight. Now awaiting re-opening of the Baccus shopping cart.

Campaign - French v Prussian. 5,000 figures and my largest game since Waterloo. The Prussians are throwing everything they have (3,000 figures) in halting Napoleon. I need to paint over 600 additional Prussians and as with Talavera, I am now awaiting on Baccus.

I apologise for this quiet period but hopefully will have some goodies for the blog fairly soon.

ACW Warplan Campaign: Cavalry Skirmish at Rorketon

The ACW campaign commences. As with my Napoleonic campaign, I am using the Warplan 5/5 system but with railways added. Refer to my first blog which provides an introduction together with the first map moves.

To recap:

The lead cavalry elements of the Union army has advanced north to scout the Confederate positions. Several Confederate cavalry units have fallen back in the face of a more numerous enemy. A couple of Confederate cavalry regiments though took the opportunity to engage the Union forces with the intention of giving them a bloody nose. To the right, Phillips with his cavalry legion based at Rorketon is one such and his location becomes the scene for the first action of the campaign.

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Map Moves 31st March - 1st April 1808

With the campaign moving into a new month it is time to calculate the number of newly raised reinforcements for each army.

Each square on the map is allocated a value. This is based on what is contained within that square. e.g. a rural square with no inhabitants will have a minimum value recognising a purely agricultural contribution, whereas a heavily populated town with industrial units will have the opposite. A capital will contain a bonus so it is important that countries maintain possession of that.

Captured territory will deny that country of its Value Units (VU's) with the victor gaining 25% of those lost. 

At the start of play on the 1st of the month, calculations are made for each country who then spend their VU's on reinforcements replacing losses in existing units. All those relevant units are identified at this stage (much to the pleasure of their commanders!) and the number of new recruits allotted. 

All regular recruits are classed as 2nd Line. i.e. trained but inexperienced. Recruits to militia units are conscripts. Needless to say, 2nd Line troops are more expensive than conscripts. Artillery crews and cavalry also attract a premium. Too many new recruits joining a unit could downgrade its quality. e.g. a veteran battalion that receives 50% or more recruits are reduced to 'line' status.

When that has all been calculated it is time to determine when those recruits arrive at their respective units. To keep this simple, I roll one D6 for each force. A force being all those units represented by one counter on the map. Each pip on the dice represents one day after the 1st day of the month. So a '3' will mean they arrive on the 4th of the month.  

When they arrive they are simply added to the rosters. I appreciate that it would seem a little odd that all recruits from whichever nation all arrive within the first week of each month but to make it completely realistic would be a logistical nightmare.

To give some idea of the numbers involved, on this occasion the French, with by far the largest number of VU's at 735, are able to purchase around 300 replacements. They have lost far more (1,200 to be precise)! So this is not a game changer but allows some units to avoid extinction. The Prussians are down to 268 VU's purchasing a little over 100 figures having lost 2,210.

Turning now to the map moves for these 2 days -

Continued -

Nap Campaign: Battle of Tourane

 Before I start the AAR, a recap of events leading up to this battle:

The top of the map are the positions of the main French and allied forces. We are concerned about the situation in the bottom left. This represents the situation at the end of the previous day following the Battle of Tourane Peninsular (see previous AAR). The Dutch/Belgian brigade (orange 2) had been defeated and is now retreating towards the coastal village of Tourane (22A13). Col Best's Hanoverian brigade (yellow 4) managed to escape and now begins his trek to rejoin the main allied forces.

D'Erlon with 2 infantry divisions and 1 cavalry division (blue 6) is determined to destroy the Dutch/Belgians who had been a threat to the French flank. The latter prepares a last stand at Tourane determined to see the French suffer badly.

Continued -