Faults in Maneuvers: AWI BP Battle Report

It had rained for three days solid, making maneuvers and communications absolute hell.
Washington had lost sight of the enemy and his other brigade, and unbeknownst to him, Howe had not faired any better.
Having camped overnight off the roads and tracks that surrounded the area, the early morning pickets on both sides announced the enemy at brigade strength within cannon range...

Last week, Mark came around for my first game in over two years and our first game of BP in nearly that long. We decided to break out my 20mm AWI as they had yet to see action on a board.

Using the BP supplement Rebellion!, I'd come up with a scenario which was intended to represent the maneuver and communication of this conflict, and to include the important role of cavalry - finding the enemy and friendly brigades during maneuvers.

The sides were pretty evenly matched, two brigades of a core of four standard infantry units, supported by light infantry and cavalry and one artillery piece per brigade.

Scenario: Fault in Maneuvers

The board is split up into eight 60cm x 60cm squares and littered with terrain as looks ascetically pleasing. For us that was a liberal splattering of forest and a few low hills.


Next, each side chooses a square to place their first brigade and as Mark had driven 40km to get to my place, I let him go first. The starting positions for Howe and Washington were as follows.

Then each side numbers the remaining six squares, rolls a dice and places their 2nd brigade in the square represented by the dice throw. Should the person going second land in the same place as their opponent's 2nd brigade, they shift one square away. Our second brigades were positioned thusly.

For those sides who have taken a light cavalry unit, they may expend their horse to find their friendly brigade and let them know where the action is taking place. This affords the second brigades to move one square for each light cavalry expended - expending a light horse unit means the horses are exhausted for the day and the unit must be fielded dismounted. We each expended a light cavalry unit and moved our second brigades accordingly.

Providing the starting positions for the battle - and looking at the diagrams, I asked myself why did I move my second brigade????

The Game

I let Mark start and the first thing we saw was a mass of Germans coming through the forest, coming directly towards my second brigade.

Everything was in range and a bitter exchange of fire began between the Germans and my second brigade, which lasted all game. This resulted in an early casualty from my brigade but I had reinforced its rear with light troops.

The British and Washington's brigades began their approach and I became acutely aware of the dog leg that had appeared when deploying.

Mark had ceased the opportunity to head straight towards the flank of second brigade... and into its cannon...

No Marks for guessing what happened to the cannon next and I rushed forward the 3rd New York as a sacrificial move to stop the flanking maneuver from destroying my second brigade.

Fire continued and around half way through the game, the dispositions had not really changed, with Mark's Germans taking and giving fire with my second brigade, while Washington and Howe fought it out on the hill behind.


At one point I tired flanking Mark and repelled his 17th Dragoons, and this looked to be the successful first step to rolling up Howe's brigade.

As the center held but shook the 1st Maryland to its core, forcing it to retire to the rear.

Meanwhile, on the hill, the New York held firm... which puzzled us as it was only a small unit and should have collapsed early on. The answer was I treated it as a standard unit with 3 Stamina - oops.

The Brits also took some serious pounding which also pushed them back...

But then, this happened...

The outflankers were themselves, outflanked, which had a strange outcome of a flanked unit destroying the flanking unit - and Sherborne's Additional Battalion standing proud at the end of it.

The Jagers finally found their feet from behind the German lines and came rushing over the hill.
Then it was a matter of attrition and with the British still swarming over the hill and the Germans still plowing away after also losing some units, my second brigade broke (think it had broken ages ago by the numbers of destroyed and shaken units, but we forgot we needed to check).

The day undoubtedly went to the Germans and cool heads of the British.

A good game in which we forgot the majority of Shaken and Disordered rules and nevertheless had an enjoyable time. This included drawing up a table for figuring out the weather and whether or not cannon balls should bounce for the scenario. Only to remember bouncing cannon balls was a Warmaster rule :)

ADLG: Steel and Ivory 15mm Battle Reports, and 28mm Re-Basing

Had several great games of 15mm ADLG over the weekend using my Seleucids, which started well with a (supported) win against Tim's Republican Romans on Friday night and ended abysmally with three defeats against Mark's Classical Indians.


Seleucid Pike and Bow battle Tim's Hastati in a previous game

I forgot to snap shots of most of the games and most of the photos came out blurry, but I did get a single shot of some of Mark's awesome Indians and Tim's Republicans can be seen in a previous post.


My army stayed the same throughout the weekend in a basic configuration, 4 x Heavy Cavalry and LH support in one command, 6 x Pike including Argyraspides in another, and 3 x Elephants with Asiatic bow support.

Friday night's game had only several rules for me, keep the elephants out of the rough, slam into something with the cavalry, and keep going forward with the pike. Having followed these rules (which is no small thing in itself for me), Tim then assisted with the tactical advice needed to help the Seleucids win. They smashed the Roman cavalry and rolled well against the Roman legion.

Sunday's defeats could be put down to terrain but Mark better maximised the placement and its use, keeping the Indian bow and mixed units (melee as Mediocre Medium Swordsmen) and elite elephants mostly in fields and on hills.


Seleucid Argyraspides and pike battle Tim's Triarii and Hastati in a previous game

I was too tentative moving into contact, as Mark pointed out, although fighting at -2 in the rough, the pike have greater endurance (essentially four hits), and I didn't really place terrain with consideration of the army I was facing - actually choosing 3 - 4 pieces of terrain to the Indian's advantage.

In a third game we swapped armies and I did not roll well with terrain, with most of it ending up on the Seleucid side, so all the Indians ended up in the open, but ultimately Mark used the Seleucid army to its fullest, flanking me with the cavalry and rolling forward with pike and elephants in a glorious wall of steel and ivory.

Which leads me to late Sunday afternoon. It was warm and sunny when I got home and I got all inspired like. The bases for the 28mm ALDG projects had arrived earlier in the week and I got 'the fever' and started making inroads on re-basing the 28mm Rommano-British.



So here's a couple of sneak preview shots of the heavy spear painted by Dragon in Hong Kong.


The Gripping Beast figures look ten times better on ADLG 60x40 basing than they did on individual 20x20 bases, I think its going to be a good looking ALDG army.

L'Art de la Guerre (ADLG): C'est manifique!

Tim's Polybian Legion face off against Seleucids - think this is an ex-Chasseur army

Yes, yes, yes, yes!

It's been months since I've had the time to blog, let alone game or paint, and filled with contracts, travel, report writing, book editing, and family. Not to mention cold, wet, and cold - did I mention the cold? One morning my car was so frozen, I couldn't open the doors - its cold!

Elephants and pike await the Romans... again!

A few weeks back as work was dying down, Tim from our local wargames group asked if I wanted a game and offered to take me through L'Art de la Guerre; lets face it, the replacement for DBM(M) and FoG; and as this seems to be a set of rules growing in popularity locally, I enthusiastically agreed.

I then had a second introductory game yesterday using my Seleucids against his Polybians (see photos), but lets just focus on the game that followed.

I played Tim's son Justin in the third game. Neither of us own the rules, nor have read them properly and it was our first game after only two introductory games with Tim.

The legion begins its sneaky maneuvers to split the pike blocks.

This is the amazing thing that happened, after set up and only two turns, and given we had the two page reference sheet to hand, neither of us had need of the rulebook or further guidance. That's how straightforward, simple, and well designed this ruleset is.

Remarkable and must be the first time in twenty years of gaming that when some weird event or occurrence has cropped up in an early game, it hasn't warranted precious minutes thumbing through a rulebook. ADLG is like the synthesis of DBx and FoG. Like after years of committed struggle of development for DBx and then its antithesis FoG, out from the clouds of evolution emerged ADLG.

Pike command gets ready to face the Princeps. I finally got to use the pike and command  I painted earlier this year.

I'm sure we missed some things, like remembering some pike and my Xystophoroi were Elite and I can see there's a lot more subtelty waiting to be uncovered, but the basics are so well designed that it didn't really matter.

I winge and moan constantly about what I want from a ruleset, given the brain power my work requires - oh woe is me, my life is so hard... not really - but I never thought there'd be an ancient/medieval set of rules which was straightforward enough to want to play on a Friday evening, talking bollocks with mates, while eating junk food and drinking coke.

Two pike commands face off against the Princeps command and Hastati/Triarii command.

I remember when FoG came out I thought it was going to be the bees knees for ancient/medieval gaming, then I played it. '++' minus '--', makes a positive, carry the '+', unless its impact troops on a Tuesday... what? Arrgh! Who won that #@^*& combat?

I remember staring open mouthed at a DBM tournament as the rules guiding movement were explained to me yet again, 'you can't do that, because the distance from the front corner, divided by the isosceles, across the zone of control, while holding your tongue in the right position, means that a troops expanding from a column, can't move across the face of an enemy element, until 4PM on a Thursday, unless the angle of attack is less than 30 degrees and all elements end directly facing at least one enemy element...' - WTF? I just like playing with toy soldiers!

Also, having been burned by FoG and having foolishly bought the majority of supplements, like DBA 3.0, all of the army lists you could feasibly want, are included in the ADLG rulebook.

Xystophoroi doing what they do well, smashing lighter enemy cavalry.

The only bad thing I can remotely come up with is that you don't need a lot of figures for an army - which really is a positive. You'll need figures somewhere in the number between DBA and DBM/FoG, which means most of my figures will stay in their boxes for ADLG - but then that's what Hail Caesar or WAB is for (does anyone actually play WAB anymore?).

ADLG is a nice surprise and though I'm a little late getting into it, I can see why everyone is raving about it and the armies behave pretty well on the battle field as well.


Unsupported elephants against lighter, javelin armed, troops - say goodbye to the elephants!

In one game my massive and long pike block was bisected and outmaneuvered by legionaries, my elephants were overcome in rough ground by medium javelinmen, and in another my unsupported elephants were eventually overcome by a line of determined legionaries while my Xystophoroi mowed down Roman cavalry. Nice.

So ADLG is a good ruleset and to be fair, while derivative, it sits squarely on the shoulders of its predesseors and it does that really well.

The pike block systematically and deftly turned, game over man!

I've just ordered a copy and am looking forward to many more games in the future, but to be fair if someone still wants a quick game of DBA 3.0, I'll be up for that as well because its the perfection of that line of games. As for FoG, well at least in all the supplements I've got lots of good reference material in the photos and Osprey pictures.

Sudan: 2nd Action at Hashin - Black Powder Battle Report

Forces of the Black Flag make their way towards the Dihilbat Feature from the direction of Tamai.

It was a particularly blistering hot day near Hashin as the Indian brigade and elements from General Graham's second brigade made their way through the valley between Beehive Hill and the southern end of the Dihilbat Feature. As two huge palls of dust rose in the north, east and west of his position, he did not need the confirmation from the recently returned scouts to realise there were two large Ansar forces heading his way. It was time to deploy...

What follows was an excellent game with three good fellows from the Grumpy (old man) Shed Group who acquiesced to fight the Hashin 'what if' scenario previously reported.

Set up almost exactly matched the first battle only on a slightly larger game area, so see the previous post for maps. Also a couple of units were added to both sides.

Anglo-Egyptian Forces (Tim)
Indian Brigade: The 5th Ludhiana Sikhs, 17th Bengal Native Infantry, and 28th Bombay Native Infantry (3x Standard BP formations),  9th Bengal Lancers (Standard BP formation), a Naval Brigade Gardner and Tiny support formation, and 2 screw guns.

2nd Brigade: The Berkshire Regiment and Royal Marine Light Infantry (2x Standard BP formations), squadron of 9th Bengal lancers (Small BP formation).

Reinforcements: 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, 3rd Battalion Scots Guards (2x Standard 'guards' BP formation, starting off table, available from turn three onward, and assigned to a brigade as the general sees fit).

Ansar Forces
Green Flag Rub (Mike): 6 x Hadendowa (Standard BP spear/sword formations)
Black Flag Rub (Stephen): 3 x spearmen/swordsmen (Standard BP formations), 2 x African Riflemen (Standard BP formations), 3 x Small rifle-armed skirmishers.


Green flag begins their advance through the low spurs of the Waratab.

Unlike last time, the Ansar came in from both the direction of Tamai (top photo) and the Low Spurs of the Waratab (photo above), from both corners of the board.


Indian Brigade deploys in the depression between Beehive Hill and the Dihilbat Feature, with elements of 2nd Brigade on the southern spur of Dihilbat.

Turn One
The Anglo-Egyptians held firm in their starting positions as the Ansar advance began, although the main body of the Black Flag rub failed to activate.

Squadron of 9th Bengals face the the advancing Black Flag skirmishers on right flank and take fire.


Green Flag after turn one, moving through the spurs and pausing at the edge.

Tim moved the Indian Brigade over to the left to make room for the 2nd Brigade, who came off the Dihilbat spur, causing dispositions to almost exactly match those of the actual battle, and sent the 9th Bengal Lancers forward into the desert.


Turn Two
One good command roll later and it was all on. The Green flag rolled well enough to rush across the board from the right flank, through the low spurs and into the Indian brigade.


After closing fire, the square held firm and the fighting continued into the next round.

On the left flank, again the Riflemen of the Black Flag forces failed to activate and were left at the northern end of the Dihilbat spurs, as the 9th Bengals raced across the board to get behind them.


Turn Three
British reinforcements arrive.

The Coldstreams took to the left flank Dihilbat spur and fired.


Causing the lead element of the Black Flag spearmen - who had shot forwards behind the left side of the Dihilbat Feature - to become disordered.


In the center the Scots Guards had joined the Indian Brigade and immediately closed the brigade square as the fighting continued.


Which was fortunate as even though the right-most Sepoy repulsed the first wave, the battalion succumbed to the continued onslaught and was destroyed.

Turn Four
The Ansar rushed into the gap, smashing into the Scots Guard in their flank...

... but were caught by traversing fire from the Screw Guns on the hill and retired from the battle.


Still the square held firm even though the Gardner had become Disordered...


... and was reformed into a 'harbour'/triangle/squarish thingy (the maths was too hard ((3x6)+1)/4=... triangle!) as fierce firing and fighting caused disorder amongst the Hadendowa and the 5th Sikhs to become shaken.


Meanwhile the Blag Flag spearmen raced up the left face of the Dihilbat, smashing into the Coldstreams, who held firm but were Shaken for their efforts.


The 9th Bengal Lancers, who had previously rushed completely across the board to try and flank the Black Flag, were finally reined in and turned around to hit the trailing Green Flag spearmen in the rear...

Causing a surprise outcome for both sides.

Where'd everything go - total destruction in the center of the board.

Turn Five
The center held firm for the Anglo-Egyptians with the Sikhs repulsing the wave of Hadendowa, making serious inroads towards breaking the Green Flag rub.


But on the left flank the Black Flag began its attack in earnest as the 2nd Brigade moved up in support positions.

African Riflemen begin pelting the Berkshires, who in turn returned fire, disordering the riflemen.


The Coldsreams took the brunt of the continued assault, supported by the Royal Marine Light Infantry (RMLI) and Berkshires below.


They succumbed to the prolonged fight but pushed back the attacking Ansar horde before they too fell back.


Turn Six
The Black Flag assault continued with a fresh wave of Beja spearmen rushing headlong into the RMLI.


Who immediately crumbled under the assault after the Beja re-rolled missed H-2-H for six hits.


The Blag Flag skirmishers took up positions on the Dihilbat to continue to rain fire down on the Berkshires.


Meanwhile back in the center a wave of Hadendowa raced up Beehive Hill to assault the artillery position...

...and ended up completely annihilating it.

Turn Seven, Eight, & Possibly Even Nine(?)

Not sure what happened, it was the heat of the battle and seem to have missed a few photos. Suffice to say that the Green Flag Rub - almost broken - ended up entirely pressurizing the Indian Brigade.

The Black Flag skirmishers and Riflemen continued to harry the Berkshires from the peak of the Dihilbat Feature...

... until they too succumbed.


While streaming over the Dihilbat, this was one of the last things the Coldstreams saw...


This final Black Flag assault entirely decimated the 2nd Brigade, leaving the Indian Brigade battling on in the center, but now completely enveloped.


And in the last round of combat, the 5th Ludhiana Sikhs fell, taking a body of Hadendowa with them, and the game was called.


This was another well fought and close game, 2-1 to the Ansar.

Mike and Stephen ended up enacting classic Ansar skirmish and envelopment tactics, much to the glee of this SOG.

The battle provided a good demonstration of why General Graham, forces over-extended and without the close and mutual support of full brigade squares, chose to fall back on the 21st March 1885.

So hats off to Tim who endured especially well given he had no choice but to fight, faced two opponents, overwhelming numbers, and alls I did was hang about making umpirish noises and cracking jokes 👍

Once again Black Powder more than delivers to period expectations, a totally excellent ruleset!