Black Powder & Howitzers

Before the post, a thank you. Following a recent comment famine, the last 12 hours has seen a record 7 comments and 3 new followers. Well, 6 comments really as Steve Johnson posted the same comment twice. I think he realised I was feeling lonely. So thanks to all who posted and those who became followers. I hereby promise to leave more comments on other people's blogs.

To keep the party atmosphere going, I have added the proper 'Follower' widget so all followers get their logo at the top of the page. And to celebrate, what better than another post?

Howitzers in Black Powder

The photo shows a couple of howitzers recently acquired from (you guessed it) the RSM95 range. Austria to the left, Prussia to the right.

Checking the howitzer rules in BP I found that they make howitzers handy things to have, but the rules also have some misconceptions about the capabilities of these weapons. The basic mistake seems to be that howitzers are lumped in with the very different mortars. Viz:

1. All mortars and howitzers have a minimum range of 6"... This is simply allowing the room for the shell to reach the top of its trajectory before falling upon the target. (p.81).

Reasonable for mortars but quite incorrect for howitzers. These were perfectly capable of firing on a flat trajectory (sometimes using their shells for ricochet fire just like cannonballs) and were furthermore very effective users of grape or canister. So it is appropriate to use the same rules for fire within 6" (i.e. short range) as for ordinary guns.

2. Ranges have been fixed at somewhat less than equivalent cannons... (p.81).

I have found no real evidence for this. For example, in the SYW period the ranges of the Austrian 6pdr gun and 7pdr howitzer are comparable. So my smoothbore field howitzers get a range of 48".

3. Enfilade Fire... [not allowed to] cannons firing overhead at a target, or howitzers or mortars that lob their shots upon their target. (p.55).

For overhead fire in general or mortars, quite right. But again, howitzers were capable of (and commonly used) low trajectory fire, including canister. Either allow enfilade fire for howitzers as normal, or allow it for howitzers firing at up to half (or 'medium') range.

4. As mortars/howitzers have an explosive or incendiary shell, they inflict the same amount of damage regardless of range. These weapons therefore have the same number of attacks at all ranges as shown in their profile. This is normally 2 for a smoothbore field howitzer. (p.81)
A sensible seeming rule, but I can't find any 'profile' for howitzers in the rules. The only stats example that has howitzers (p.169) keeps standard gun stats of 3-2-1. I presume the above rule means that BP would give pure howitzers stats of 0-2-2, whilst my comments under 1 above would mean you should really use 3-2-2. However, this raises the question of why all guns in a SYW army weren't howitzers, if they were so effective. Well, Frederick II for one was pretty keen on them, but the point remains. Therefore it might be better to leave howitzer stats at 3-2-1, reasoning that it was much more difficult to hit at long range and that therefore casualties caused at long range would be less, as with guns but for slightly different reasons.

I am pretty confident that the above objections are watertight, but as always comments are not only welcomed, they are positively encouraged.

Thanks again to all readers.

Decorate Your Battlefield

The effort needed to paint sufficient troops for my tabletop battles has in the past precluded the creation of figures which are there just to make the table look more interesting. However, I recently decided that some figures of this kind would make a pleasant change from painting 'real' soldiers, and would also improve the appearance of my Hochkirch battlefield when I take it to Colours in September.

So after some online searching I ordered various bits and pieces (mainly civilians and a few sheep) from Hovels and Spencer Smith Miniatures. In the latter case I selected from the Willie Figures range.

Hovels

I ordered 8 of the 'wedge tents' from the ACW range (to represent the Prussian camps at Hochkirch), and from the 'Animals and Civilians' range I ordered a total of 9 sheep, a farmer, an innkeeper and an innkeepers wife. Total cost £24.38 including p+p. You can see them posed above with an RSM musketeer for comparison.

I was very pleased with these items. I ordered with a bit of trepidation as the figures are advertised as 25mm (so I thought they might be too small) and Hovels aren't really known as a figure manufacturer (so I thought the quality would be poor). Wrong on both counts. The figures fit perfectly with my RSM95s, and quality is excellent - well sculpted, well cast figures with little or no flash. The tents are also good - just the right size and well cast in resin with no bubbles or other faults.

Close up of 'wealthy farmer', RSM musketeer and 'innkeepers wife'.

Willie Figures

You can see below the figures I ordered from the Willie range. Again I was well pleased. This is an old range, of course, but the quality is fine and these are nicely proportioned, anatomically correct figures fully compatible with my RSMs. 

From left to right: D36 French Engineer Officer, D35 British Sutleress, N5 British Company Officer, D8a Lady Riding Side Saddle, RSM musketeer, D10 British Mounted Officer, N31 Gentlemen, N32 Lady, N33 Farm Boy, N34 Farm Girl. 

For my taste the pose of the lady's horse is a little extravagant, but on the other hand I particularly liked the portly sutleress. There is a bit of flash on these figures (which were cleaned up quickly for the photo) but it is very easy to remove. The officer figures come with separate swords to glue on. Total cost was £17.12 including p+p (I ordered 2 of the French Engineer Officer, British Company Officer and Sutleress, 1 each of the rest).

Close up of Lady Riding Side Saddle, RSM musketeer, Gent and Lady.

Service from both manufacturers was good. So overall I am well satisfied and looking forward to working my way through painting these models in the next few months. With a few individual musketeers and officers from the RSM range added in, I can produce some solo figures and vignettes which should add a bit of class to my SYW table.

Practical Wargaming - Bargain of the Year

Back in October 2008 I published a post on Charles Wesencraft's Practical Wargaming. It was not in my collection of wargaming classics at that time, but I recently decided that it was high time I obtained a copy. The book is of course easily available as part of John Curry's 'History of Wargaming' project, but I hope John won't be offended if I say that owning an original copy was my preference, even if I had to pay a bit more. Digital reproductions are a great idea for keeping these old books in print, but the resulting books themselves lack the heft, character and production quality of the originals.

Fortunately it seems there are still plenty of old copies of this book around. Imagine my surprise on finding a copy available for £3.30 (plus £2.35 postage) from a seller on the Abe Books site. 'Acceptable quality', the ad from the seller said, so I ordered it expecting a tatty copy, probably with no dust jacket. As you can see, I received a fully jacketed ex-library copy in what I would call very good condition. 

Hats off to The Perfect Book Store.com for providing such excellent customer satisfaction. There are plenty of copies on Amazon and Abe books for £20-£30, but this is a genuine bargain. Some sellers are trying to rip people off for £50 or more!

I had forgotten the book had a chapter dedicated to rules for the eighteenth century. Much joy! They look perfectly playable and I'm certainly tempted to have a go. There are a couple of errors - Mr Wesencraft seems to have got the idea that infantry battalions in this period had light companies as in Napoleonic times (see photo of text above), and also that dragoons 'usually chose to move on horseback to a given point and then dismounted and opened fire with their muskets'. Not very SYW I'm afraid. Hussars also don't get a mention. But these are acceptable faults in a book which must have been cutting edge in 1974. All the rules (there are sets covering 7 periods from ancients to the Franco-Prussian War, plus a campaign system) are well set out and easy to understand. The underlying principles are clearly explained and there are diagrams and photos to help you out. The basic simplicity of all the rules will ensure fast play. All this plus the most charming and well written introductory chapter you'll find in any book on wargaming. An outstanding piece of work indeed.

I will be reading all of this book. Not just for nostalgic pleasure but also for rules ideas, and insight into how simple, straightforward rules systems can be developed. I just can't quite work out why I haven't bought it sooner.

Being An Entertainment With Toy Soldiers Representing The Battle of Hochkirch (Part 1)

So, how far can a real battle be downsized to fit one's resources, and still be a worthwhile representation of the original? When I had a go at Lobositz at Colours 2010 (see older post) I ended up using a rough scale of a wargames battalion to represent 3 actual battalions. I thought the result still gave quite a good feel of the original action. 

I have picked Hochkirch (14th October 1758) for my next effort. I found it particularly interesting as the Austrians not only attacked, but won as well, even with Frederick in charge of the Prussians. They also had a pretty interesting plan, manoeuvring around Frederick's camp and attacking it from 3 directions at once. Unfortunately, whilst the Prussian army was about the same size as at Lobositz (around 30,000) the Austrian army was more than twice as strong, around 80,000. To represent an army of 80,000 men I could, of course, paint a lot more Austrian units and use a much bigger table than the 8' x 6' which is the biggest I usually use. But I am only a small time wargamer with limited time and enthusiasm, so I decided I would take the obvious course: stick to an 8' x 6' table and increase the number of real units represented by each wargames unit.

My main sources for the refight were the account on the Kronoskaf SYW website and Frank Chandler's Volley and Bayonet scenario book, Battles of the Seven Years War. Of course the great thing these days is that a simple Google search will give you a number of results for 'Battle of Hochkirch', so I was able to see how a few other people had handled the action, most notably the 2009 post on James Roach's 'Olicanalads Games' blog. And for atmosphere you have to read Thomas Carlyle's account of the battle from his History of Friedrich II, which is also conveniently available online. After a good deal of poring over OOBs and maps, I came up with forces and a layout that fitted the table and models I had available. 

The map of my layout is seen below, with the Prussian deployment marked. To fit the battle into the available space more easily, the battlefield was twisted slightly, so that north is offset as shown. In the end, 5 battalions of infantry and 3 regiments of cavalry, plus 2 small detachments of Jager, stood in for an army of 30,000 men, on a ratio of around 5-6 real units for each on-table unit. A bit modest, you might think, but I felt the overall shape and tactical feel of the battle would be retained. At this ratio, battalions become brigades and brigades become wings.

Terrain notes: the stream is a linear obstacle and counts as cover. Woods may be moved through at half pace by formed units or at full pace by light infantry. Hills can be moved on at full pace by all units. Both Prussian artillery batteries are in fieldworks, marked in brown. (Dark green areas are woods, the olive green shaded areas hills).

Of course, I had to make arbitrary decisions about the command structure on each side, bearing in mind I would be using Black Powder. The organisation I ended up with is below. As I have said, the 'wings' will count as Black Powder brigades.

Prussia

C-in-C: Frederick II (SR10)

Left Wing: Generallieutenant Manteuffell (SR9)
1 grenadier battalion
2 line infantry battalions
1 cuirassier regiment
1 medium battery

Right Wing: Feldmarschall James Keith (SR9)
1 Grenadier battalion
1 line infantry battalion
1 cuirassier regiment
1 dragoon regiment
2 jager detachments
1 medium battery

The division between the 2 wings at initial deployment is shown on the map by the dotted and dashed line through Pommritz. Cavalry units on the map have an arrow to their front. In line with the actual battle, Manteuffell's grenadiers should be the unit guarding the bridge in the north-east, whilst Keith's grenadiers should be the unit placed in front of Hochkirch itself. The two jager detachments are classed as 'tiny' for BP and represent the jager and freikorps units deployed to protect Frederick's right wing, south-west of Hochkirch. Frederick starts the battle within 8" of the centre of Rodewitz and must remain in the north half of the table for the first 3 moves, until he realises the attack to the south is serious.

Austria

C-in-C: Feldmarschall Leopold Daun (SR9)

Left Wing: Feldmarschall-Lieutenant Loudon (SR9)
                  assisted by General de Kavallerie O'Donnell (SR8)
1 line infantry battalion
1 grenz light infantry regiment
1 cuirassier regiment
1 hussar regiment

Centre: Feldzugmeister Sincere (SR8)
2 grenadier battalions
3 line infantry battalions
1 medium battery
1 heavy battery

Right Wing: Feldzugmeister D'Ahrenberg (SR7)
                    assisted by General de Kavallerie Buccow (SR7)
3 line infantry battalions
1 grenz light infantry battalion
1 cuirassier regiment
1 dragoon regiment
2 medium batteries

Daun is with Sincere commanding the centre. This represents the main body of the army, which will initiate the attack. They are deployed in the area shown at game start, up to 9" from their baseline. The Austrian left wing can arrive from move 3 along the stretch of baseline indicated, subject to a successful command roll. The right wing can arrive along their bit of baseline from move 5, also dependent on successful command rolls. The lower staff rating of the right wing generals is based on the slow movement of this wing in the real battle, which was affected by a Prussian flank threat from the north. These Prussian flanking forces (for students of the battle, those under Retzow) didn't actually get involved in the battle and are well off table, so are not represented.

The additional commanders listed for the Austrian left and right wings are an attempt to recreate the original command structure a little more closely. In both cases, the assistant commanders can only issue orders to cavalry units, whilst the main commanders can order any unit in their wings. O'Donnell's cavalry should deploy on the left of Loudon's wing, Buccow's cavalry on the right of D'Ahrenberg's wing.

Scenario Conditions

The battle commenced at 0500, ending with a general Prussian retreat at around 1000. My guess for game length would be 10 turns. 

The initial attack on Frederick's right wing opened in darkness, fog and mist, so the following rules are in force for the first 4 moves (dawn at this time of the year in Germany is roughly between 0700 and 0730). During these initial moves there is an extra -1 command modifier for ordering units more than 8" from the command base (remember I reduce all rulebook distances by one third, so this equates to the normal 12" command distance). There is also a -1 extra fire modifier for any fire beyond 6" in the first 2 moves, and beyond 12" in moves 3 and 4. No charges may occur from a distance of greater than 6" in the first 2 moves, or 12" in moves 3 and 4.

Any artillery defeated in melee by the Austrians may be captured and used against its former owners (copying events in the real battle). This will require a successful order from the nearest command figure.

This is actually a fairly small battle in BP terms, so to keep it going I will be using amended brigade morale rules. Each wing/centre formation counts as a single brigade. Units only count as lost for formation morale when they are destroyed or have left the table and cannot return. Each army seeks to win the battle by breaking the opposing force. The Austrian army is broken when 2 of its 3 formations are broken. The Prussian army will only break when both its formations have broken.

Below are some photos I took when I made a practice set-up. The building on the near base edge of the top photo represented the village of Laske, but subsequently I decided to leave this village out and instead represent Plotzen (to the south-east of Hochkirch), along with the associated road. I placed all Austrian units on table merely to test the deployment areas.

Part 2 of this post will be the refight itself. I intend to take this battle to Colours 2011 in September, but of course would hope to playtest it well before then! I'll keep you, erm, posted.


Happy Easter!

Grenadier-Battalion Grun Loudon

Sometimes known as Loudon's Frei-Corps. This is a unit I have quickly knocked up in the 10 days since I posted those Hussar pictures. And if you believe that you will believe anything. I actually started work on these figures in November last year, and have just finished the last base. The frightening thing is, some people actually would produce a unit like this (only better) in a few days. Ho hum.

The figures are of course RSM 95 Austrian musketeers, with the pom-poms removed as these were not present on the originals. The standard bearer is an exception: he is one of the Spanish infantry figures RSM now stock - I just happened to have him lying around from a small order of sample figures. Whether the unit actually had a flag I could not find out, but I thought they deserved one. The flag itself was printed free from an online source.

Although called grenadiers, as you can see there is not a mitre or busby in sight. General Loudon apparently thought calling the unit 'grenadiers' might improve recruitment. The unit was to be formed mainly from foreign recruits, including enemy deserters, and was intended to support Austrian light infantry by providing them with formed infantry back up. They seem to have been reasonably successful, so I will class them as standard line infantry.

Despite the shine, these figures are finished with a coat of Windsor and Newton matt acrylic varnish. If I had bought the product to get a nice matt finish I would have taken it back to the shop: what you actually get a is a nice subdued slightly-gloss effect. Luckily, I find this just right. 

I like this unit. It makes a change from the usual Austrian white and is likely to enhance the look of my games. My next move is going to be to order some more hussars, but this time from Minden Miniatures. Meanwhile, I have some Prussian grenadiers lying around unpainted, and I have decided to create IR6, the Garde-Grenadier battalion. This will be fun as the unit was an elite one, all grenadiers, and was derived from the battalion of giants recruited by Frederick's father, sometimes known as the Potsdam Grenadiers. Not being a converged unit, one gets the advantage of a grenadier battalion which has a flag. And according to the Kronoskaf SYW Project, the flagpoles were yellow. Nice.

Black Powder and the Prussians

My Black Powder stats have been amended recently, mainly as a result of reading the book shown below: Frederick the Great on the Art of War, edited by Jay Luvaas.

I can't really understand why this work doesn't get more publicity. Professor Luvaas wrote and edited this book in 1966 whilst teaching military history at Allegheny College. He was a mere Doctor at the time, but went on to hold Professorships at the US Military Academy, US Army Military Institute and the US Army War College. He retired in 1995 and died in 2009. Here he has taken on all Frederick's writings on military subjects and edited them into a themed and well ordered book, adding some judicious analysis and comment of his own. This is my kind of book: scholarly but easy to get to grips with. The book has recently been republished in paperback and is easily available in this form on Amazon for under a tenner. However, the original hardback is much more satisfying to own and I managed to pick one up for much the same price from the same website. 

I would categorise this book as a must-have for anyone desiring to understand 18th century warfare, along with the works of Duffy, and Nosworthy's Anatomy of Victory. And by the way, it is not to be confused with the work available through Caliver Books, Frederick the Great's Instructions to his Generals, edited by a chap called Hayes. This latter work only has 80 pages (Luvaas' has 391) and only covers the work stated in the title. The Instructions were written before the SYW and do not cover Frederick's later thoughts on warfare developed through his experience of that dreadful conflict. Thanks to Professor Luvaas we can hear the authentic voice of the greatest practitioner of 18th century warfare, 250 years after he committed his thoughts to paper.

Anyway, one of the points made loud and clear is that the tactical superiority of the Prussian army was founded on its ability to manoeuvre better and shoot better than its opponents.  Hardly a stunning conclusion, you will think; but it was having this point drummed home to me through this book that I decided to make a few amendments to my stats tables. The superiority in manoeuvre is covered in the rules mainly by giving the Prussians a higher staff rating. I feel this is essential and has to be done, or you might as well be playing fantasy or imagi-nations (both highly respectable forms of wargaming but not what I am discussing here). In addition, it is tempting to give the Prussians special rules, such as 'superbly drilled', but I have not taken this route. The 'reliable' rule, for example, seems pointless if you have already decided the army justifies higher staff ratings all round. As for firing, the book informs the reader that even conservative estimates allow the Prussians 4 volleys a minute against 2 or 3 for most other nations. Frederick himself was much more bullish, claiming a 3 times superiority in firing for his infantry. Of course, the figures for rate of fire are subject to some dispute but I have accepted that the Prussian advantage was real and significant.

Therefore, all Prussian regular formed infantry get 4 firing dice instead of 3. 'First Fire' is given to all decent quality infantry units of both the Prussian and Austrian armies as representing a basic tactic of the time (the Bavarians and Frei-Korps miss out on this). 'Superbly Drilled' is reserved for grenadiers to give them an edge in reliability, making them additionally suitable for their historic role of undertaking the most difficult attacks. I have made no changes to the cavalry, remaining convinced that the Prussians have the edge, and continuing to refuse the use of the 'heavy cavalry' rule. Note that I have decided to have the option of fielding 3 types of artillery; light, medium or heavy. I decided to differentiate these purely by range and ease of movement. Ranges are given in the tables. Light guns will count as the battalion guns mentioned in the rules for manhandling, whilst heavy guns cannot be manhandled. Medium and heavy guns will move limbered as per the rules, but light guns will get the movement for horse artillery. Finally, Frederick himself, if present, always gets a staff rating of 10.

All comments welcomed, of course, especially those disagreeing with my conclusions. Wargaming is a learning process, like any good hobby.

HR 7 The Yellow Hussars, and Husaren Regiment Splenyi

The painting of new SYW units continues to creak along at a slow pace. Recently completed are these two Hussar units, one for the Prussians and one for the Austrians. You will notice I have solved the problem of painting Hussar lace by ignoring it completely. Not a tip I would recommend, but that kind of fiddling around is just too much for my meagre skills and even more meagre will-power. 

Note the Austrian unit has a standard whilst the Prussian unit does not, which I believe is historically correct. The RSM95 range doesn't have Hussar officers, so officers are designated by a rearing horse and some very minor conversion work (plus some nice yellow boots).

Austrian Splenyi Hussars

Prussian Hussar Regiment 7

The release of dismounted Hussar figures from Minden Miniatures is tempting me to add a dismounted option for these units. It's well past time I got a few figures from that manufacturer into my armies. And the choice of dismounted cavalry should be just the ticket for those smaller scenarios featuring La Petite Guerre (or Der Kleine Krieg if you prefer). 

Cheers for now!