Testing

 Testing the Jonathan fix....

Play stops painting - a game!

 Rather than post pictures of painted and unpainted 15mm barbarians, something different.

To be honest, the last batches of Germans have at times been a chore; I suspect it's the numbers - 40 odd 15mm figures can sap the most enthusiastic painter and I have been flagging and getting frustrated with things like shield patterns. I don't really have a lot to do, some cavalry, light infantry and camp followers plus some command stands and that will be the German horde. There are a lot of odds and sods; Roman tribunes and baggage, plus camp defences. I think I will tackle them in small batches.

So, with the family away for a few days, I had access to the kitchen table without interruption. I decided I would play a game, but what?

For a bit of fun, here's the table laid out in the early morning sun. Can you guess the battle? A clue it's from the SYW.....

Answer? Lobositz 1756 the first battle of the Seven Years War between the Prussians under Frederick the Great and the Austrians commanded by the "wild goose" Marshal von Browne.

I first encountered the battle in Battle for Wargamers November 1977 where Charles Grant gave an account of his refight of the battle. At the time, not only was I greatly influenced by Charles Grant and the Wargame, but was also becoming interested in the period itself. So much so, I used his OoB to plan out 15mm Austrians and Prussians; having painted 1x 48 figure battalion and half way through a 24 cuirassier regiment, the thought of 9  and 3 more respectively was too daunting. I gave up the 15mm and switched to 25/30mm and WRG 1685-1845! The battle stayed with me though.

For those interested, the article has been reprinted in CG Grant's The Wargame Companion, along with a refight by CS Grant, his son (Charles Grant) and Phil Olley. The original article sadly had no pictures, just  a map.

Despite playing SYW I never replayed the battle - not enough Austrians for one thing. It was many years later when starting the Soldier King project and casting around for rules that I encountered it again as a scenario in Volley & Bayonet 1st edition. This had a major influence in choosing the rules, with the connection back to Charles Grant.

Recently, I have written a lot of background on the Soldier King project for the Society of Daisy newsletter (Saxe & Violets) at the urging of Eric Turner:

 (https://brownspreadandyellowfruit.blogspot.com/)

So my mind had turned to things SSM and Soldier King. With the opportunity to have a game, it was inevitable that I turned to Lobositz (although Mollwitz was a close second) and took a leaf from Charles Grant's book; he used his VFS and Lorraine armies as proxies for Prussians and Austrians, I would use my Soldier King armies of Bravance (in blue) and Estavian Imperial (in white). Initially I thought about using Charles Grant's OoB with VnB rules, but in the end plumped for the VnB orbats as in the scenario. This required a few "stand-ins" from other SK armies to make up the numbers.

So on to the game. First the terrain. Although the scenario uses a 5' x 4' table, I was limited to 5' x 3'6" so both long edges were shortened by 3" and deployment depth reduced accordingly.  I was limited by what I could find and resorted to "books under a cloth" for the significant hills.

The Lobosch - an extinct volcano covered with vines and walls.

The Holmka mound

Lobositz town with the river Elbe behind

The sunken road

The Morellenbach a swampy stream

Early morning mist in the valley floor - limiting visibility. Dice each turn after first to see if it dissipated; with a roll of one, it burnt off on the second turn!

The Austrians deployed, the advance guard beyond the Morellenbach, with the main army behind it.

The strong position of the sunken road - counting as fortification on sides facing out from road. I tried to replicate the Austrian historical deployment. TBH it was rather cramped and it took some time to organise and note which units represented the historical ones in the roster.

The main army and left wing cavalry cramped behind the Morellenbach.

The right wing were also cramped. Lobositz was garrisoned. 

I christened a dice tray I'd bought years ago and found some new dice - blue and black for the Prussians and white and red for the Austrians.

Tiddlywink tokens - green = stationary, blue limbered, yellow = disordered and red = routed permanent disorder.

The Prussians / Bravancians debouch from the narrow pass - thankfully the large movement rates meant the traffic jam was able to sort itself out to some extent, although the pass and left wing remained cramped. Playing solo, I was more concerned with getting the units on table so didn't lead with the cavalry as they did historically. You can see I managed to establish an artillery position on the Holmka mound.

The following photos were taken at the end of each sides bound showing the significant events / changes.

The left wing Austrian cavalry swung out behind the Morellenbach. You can see the mist has not cleared.

The mist lifts revealing a strong Prussian column of infantry regiments offering a potential opportunity for the Austrian advanced guard cavalry; sadly the Prussian artillery made short work of an Austrian Hussar regiment - unfortunately I had not left a base width gap between units so no saving roll! First blood to the Prussians.

The combined Carabinier brigade boldly charged and through back one of the infantry regiments, leaving them disordered and as exploiting this would take them out of command, settled for threatening the flank of the remaining units. Perhaps it should have gone for the artillery...

The Prussians clear the pass. The leading grenadiers would suffer as point unit. To the rear, regiments are told off to clear away the Croats from the Lobosch.

The infantry turned and shot up the Carabiniers, who opted to save the only hit (from artillery ) but then had to retire. Their action had disrupted the Prussian advance.

The Prussian left is stalemated while the Croats are cleared out. The grenadiers threatened by cavalry go stationary and the cavalry are disinclined to try their luck. However, the grenadiers are under short range artillery fire from a stationary battery which will eventually destroy them. The Prussian infantry are building up to storm Lobositz.

The left wing cavalry pile up behind while two regiments take on the Croats.

The grenadiers have gone and the Prussians aim to storm Lobositz.

The fight against the Croats drags on. Shooting was ineffective but melees at least pushed them back.

Lobositz is stormed and taken.

Cavalry replace the grenadiers and some Croats are eventually eliminated. An ineffective artillery duel ensues.

 The Prussian infantry reorganised them selves, rallied and attacked the sunken road. A battalion of Grenze were pushed out but the Prussians have been repulsed disordered (yellow markers). It's a very strong position with stationary grenadiers and a heavy artillery battery.

The regiments which took Lobositz rashly pursued and were repulsed disordered for their pains! A second regiment moves in. The Austrian infantry and a unit of grenadiers are out of command so cannot rally or move towards the enemy and the beaten regiment remains a disordered mob by the banks of the Elbe. Sadly, with attacks on the sunken road and Von Browne organising a counter attack into Lobositz, neither the army or corps commanders can do much to sort these units out.

A successful counter attack retakes Lobositz and yet again the Prussians are repulsed from the sunken road. Some of the left wing infantry are out of command, their commander being preoccupied with the fight on the Lobosch; the overall infantry commander has to bring them under command and lead them towards the Lobositz meatgrinder!

The Prussians keep on coming! While units form up to attack the sunken road again, artillery is pushed forwards and in the distance fresh regiments from the left wing are led forward.

Lobositz falls to the Prussians a second time! The mob of whitecoats by the Elbe increases.

The Lobosch is cleared, only a single battalion of Croats remain on the hill. The losses mean the Austrian army reserve is exhausted and cannot undertake offensive action.

Disaster for the Austrians! Most of the sunken road is cleared or captured and the heavy gun battery out of action after being stormed. There are reserves, but not in the right place and the commanders need to rally disordered units. The Austrians are faced with attacking Prussians behind entrenchments on the left and filling gaps on the right with the prospect of imminent attack.

Sensing victory, the right wing Prussian cavalry with overall cavalry commander attached, charge the Austrians behind the Morellenbach; it's a risky move - each unit has to dice to see the effects of the marsh - 1,2 no effect, 3,4 halve move distance, 5,6 halve move distance and disorder. The dice fall! The ones and twos that have plagued shooting actually come in useful! In a hard fought melee the Austrians are pushed back disordered, the Prussians follow up and now outnumber the remaining Austrian dragoons. Faced with an uneven combat on this flank, the centre collapsing, reserve exhausted and Lobositz falling and so cutting communication , Von Braune decided it was time to withdraw.

Thoughts.

I played solo from about 11am to 3pm with a short break for lunch. The rules worked well but there was some flicking through the rulebook to resolve certain situations. The eventual butcher's bill was 11 SP lost for the Austrians and 13 SP lost for the Prussians, so something of a pyrrhic victory. In the real battle, it was just to delay and distract Frederick while a flying column went to aid the Saxons penned up in Pirna. Sadly, the Saxons capitulated and were forced into the Prussian army (most deserted within the year), so despite no cavalry action in the valley and defeat of the Prussian horse, a historical result. Frederick remained on the field, played by Von Traben of the Bravancian army.

The Austrian position is a very strong defensive one. They are hampered by the ad-hoc command structure and never seemed to have enough generals where they were needed. In contrast the Prussians had a surplus of generals, tough troops and need to grasp the nettle and attack aggressively. The biggest problem is the terrain and the opening moves are akin to managing a traffic jam! A unit of hussars were missed in the confusion and remained in the box!  It probably explains the failure to push the cavalry forward as \I had so many things going on I concentrated on just getting them on table!

It was good to get the SK armies used (as David Barnes of the Ragged Soldier blog has been urging me) 

https://russetcoatcpt.blogspot.com/

The game and terrain were a bit improvised but did the job.

Given Blogger at present I don't know how long it will be before this is published and appears on others blog roll.....

Postscript: The VnB scenario books for the SYW have a different Lobositz scenario - different map and altered OoB with better command structure for the Austrians.

 

Rain stops painting - midweek update

The lack of blog posts is mainly due to getting on with the Caesar in Gaul project. Sadly, as one of the areas in the UK experiencing torrential downpours after excessive heat, painting for today had ground to a halt - it's just too dark to paint. So I have taken the opportunity to get on with other tasks including a blog update.

The painting in question are some Early Germans by Donnington. They were primed in grey and have been getting left over Contrast Paint splashed on them while painting Celts. It meant it was a quick job to get them blocked in with basic colours, aiming for muted natural shades. They have had a highlight of main colours and flesh; a few will get green shields to tie them in an break up the number of black shields.

I have painted my way through the remaining Celts - they are mostly awaiting varnish and basing.

There are various command stands, including mounted and dismounted versions of Vercingetorix, baggage, camp followers, more LC and Chariots and some Druids.

There are a few awaiting basing material.

In the to-do pile are more Germans, Roman baggage and Tribunes - I decided to add a stand to the 10x Legions, animals and more scenery.

There are a host awaiting varnish in addition so I have plenty to be getting on with.

Making progress....despite the weather!

I have been plowing on with the Celts (and the odd German) with what free time I have after work and at weekends. The more I have done, the more enthused I have been to carry on, hoping to get stuff finished so I can paint something other than b***dy Celts! 😐

I managed to tackle the remaining skirmishers, despite being in black undercoat, with the aid of a home made wet palette (I had forgotten how it was arranged and managed to get the kitchen roll and greaseproof paper the wrong way round and wondered why it wasn't working! 😖)

I also slapped some Contrast Paint on some Minifigs early Germans, with any left overs being slapped onto some Donnington. For the Germans, I went for muted natural colours and simple black or white shields.

They are sitting in a box awaiting varnish - I am resisting going back and adding shield designs to the Germans....

I also tackled some more Celts - the last bar command stands and a chariot and some camp followers. They were a bulk eBay purchase and on inspection were a mix of Forged in Battle and Old Glory 15s - the latter were bare metal and the former in black undercoat. The OG15s got cleaned up and primed white before Contrast Paint, Army Painter washes then tarting up with acrylics....

Still need metallics and final corrections.

I kept the Westwind in black and the few bits of colour. Both were short two figures each, so some old Tabletop figs made up the numbers....

This is the point at which I decided enough was enough - the paint was drying even on the wet palette! I'd also reached my limit before I would just make mistakes, despite trying to push on and get them finished. Part of the problem is that I have not enjoyed painting these figures; I may be simply burnt out on Celts, but I found both problematic - odd anatomy on the OG15s and poorly defined faces on the Westwind - I slogged my way through them, having to correct again and again and ending up with paint where I didn't want it (the design meant there were some tight areas) but it was becoming a chore 😖😔

By contrast, the old Freikorps 15 were a joy, loads of detail allowing washes or almost drybrushing on raised areas.

We seem to be in for another heatwave......😬😣

Progress - Celtic muster

This week I managed to get some more Celts done - some were with Contrast Paint on white or grey and some black undercoat with normal acrylics - I had to resort to the home made wet palette for these as the paint was drying too quickly due to the heat.

The aim was to try and make sure they all looked the same, so some of the black undercoat figures had Army Painter washes over the first coat of acrylic followed by highlights / touch up. After a coat of quick drying acrylic gloss varnish, most got based.

The Minifigs went on loose order bases as they are waving arms about - all mu other Minifigs are on loose order bases so it made sense to continue.

The Freikorps 15 were all based on close order bases, in some cases a challenge due to poses and weapons. They do look suitably wild and will represent better quality warbands.

Most are plain colours but some got fancy cloaks.

The figures were mostly eBay purchases in different lots; as figures turned up they were cleaned and primed and stuck in a box and painted in lots, some using Contrast Paints, others black and layers. The FK15 grew and I was unsure what would be light javelins. As it turned out, I had enough to move all but one with a small shield to the lights. Some more Minifigs light infantry also appeared.

As mentioned, I have moved to the idea of Strength & Honour - here you have a base representing a Legion or a warband. I've gone for 2/3 size (80mm v 120mm) to fit on the small table and decided on a warband being 6 x DBA elements - I will have to make some sabot bases and magnets eventually. So two bases wide and three deep.

Skirmishers can either be formed units or used to support other units.

Light infantry could be 6x bases but 4 is probably more practical. Cavalry will be 4x bases due to the deeper bases, so 4x 3 for 12 or 4x2 for 8 LC. At least that's the plan.....

When time allows I will have to mix up some basing gunk. In the meantime I have enough painted Essex for another close order warband and some "odds and sods" for either command stands or to make up another loose order warband. That would give 6x close order warbands and 14-15 loose order warbands. I'm tempted to add more close order - I have the figures - but am trying to finish the remaining Celts and Germans. A few of the latter have had some Contrast Paint splashed on them and are awaiting an Army painter wash.

While it may seem like overkill, I have no idea how big the forces will be generated by the campaign. I have been tying the game strength points to numbers of units. This gives the Celtae and Belgae a theoretical maximum of 18 units each. With the Aquitani (4 units) that's a whopping 40 units! Anything that big would have to transfer to the dining table just to fit them on.....