Game On....

Today, Alex and I got together for our game. It had been a while since I had seen my old friend and it was really good to catch up, share a few jokes, roll some dice and push some lead. 

Alex opted to take control of the Russian horde as they marched on towards Narva. His force was tasked with securing a village near a stream and driving the Swedes from their defensive positions. 

As the Swedes, I started with only half my force under Governor-General De la Gardie. A relief force commanded by Colonel Burmeister would arrive on Turn 3. The village was capable of holding one battalion in a fortified position. I opted to place the blue coated infantry battalion in the village with a green-coated dragoon regiment to their left and a yellow-coated infantry battalion and an artillery battery to the right of the village. 

I accidentally deleted the initial setup pictures so here we are after Turn 1(above). A unit of Streltsy on the right advanced too close to the village and received a volley from the blue coats for their trouble, inflicting a wear point. The Russian artillery bombarded the yellow coats from a distance, inflicting a wear and disordering the infantry regiment. Alex brought the rest of the Russians into position with some detachments of dragoons and Cossacks managing to cross the stream on the far flanks. 

At the end of Turn 2 (above), things looked good for the Swedes. Their dragoons chased off a Russian dragoon detachment on their far left ((top center of the photo barely in view). In the center, a streltsy battalion attempted an assault on the village and was repulsed with heavy loss. Another streltsy unit was unsuccessful in reaching the yellow-coat Swedish infantry and received a cannon blast into them causing some wear and disorder. The yellow-coats unloaded a volley into some roaming cossacks on their far right causing wear and disorder. The Swedes also saw their reserves arrive at the table edge.

The end of end of Turn 3 and beginning of Turn 4 (above) was probably the high-mark for the Swedes. In the third, the Russian reiters attempted an assault on the village and were repulsed with two wear inflicted for their troubles. The Russian westernized infantry filled gaps between the center and both flanks but had yet to make any meaningful action. The Swedish reserves were approaching the lines and their horse were primed to make a counter attack on a damaged streltsy battalion on the center left. Things went bad for the Swedes from here out.

At the end of Turn 4 (above), and the Swedish cavalry comprising their left flank is in trouble. The Swedish horse charged the injured streltsy and lost badly. Despite rolling 7 melee dice to the Russians 4 (their bardische allowing them to ignore wear markers in melee), the Swedes were repulsed after inflicting only one wear and suffering three. The green-coated dragoons were charged by a Russian westernized battalion and suffered two wear. The Swedish infantry failed to attrite the Russian units facing them.

Close-up of the situation at the end of Turn 4 (above).

The situation after Turn 5 (above). The Swedish lost their dragoon regiment on their left and the thier horse regiment were at their breaking point. The Russians lost one of their streltsy battalions and another was heavily damaged with three wear and also disordered. On the far right, the grey-coated Swedish infantry were disordered and suffering two wear after being shot up by cossacks and charged by streltsy.

In turn 6, the Russian reiters slammed into the injured Swedish horse destroying them and killing Colonel Burmeister in the process. A second streltsy battalion was destroyed on the Russian side. At the end of the turn the Russians led in victory points 9-8 but would need an advantage of 3 points for a clear victory at this point. Alex and I decided to play one more turn to decide things.

The end of Turn 7 (above). The Russians managed inflict wear and cause disorder by bombarding the yellow-coat Swedish infantry. In a desperate gamble, the yellow-coats attempted to charge and kill a vulnerable Potyomkin but failed their order check. Both the grey and yellow coat Swedish infantry were destroyed including Governor-General De la Gardie. The Swedes were left with a lone artillery battery and the blue-coated Swedish infantry entrenched in the village. 

It was a bloody affair that went very bad for the Swedes late in the game. Both Alex and I had a blast. I really can't say enough positive about Tercios. We finished 7 turns in about two and a half hours and I also managed to remember to do the various things I typically forget: orders checks for weary units, adjusting dice for weary and disorganized units, etc.

I may have to adjust some ratings for detachments. I lowered their melee and stamina but often kept their shooting value the same. We agreed to play again in the future. I really need to paint up my Poles and Ottomans now!

Nevermind the Bardiche...

Just a quick post because I ran through a few turns of Liber Militum Tercios the other night and followed that up with a reading of the reviews this evening. Perhaps I should have done those in the reverse order but no matter. 

For my practice solo game, I placed a small Swedish force on the table consisting of a commander, infantry battalion, dragoon regiment and light artillery battery. The Swedes were tasked with defending a stream edge. 

Opposing them was a slightly larger Russian force with a westernized infantry battalion, a streltsy battalion and dragoon detachment. 

To start the game, the Russians advanced. Streltsy are given slightly faster movement so they are a bit further out. The dragoon detachment hadn't moved yet at the time of this picture. The Swedes moved forward to the stream edge and their artillery bombarded ineffectively. 

The Russian infantry are given assault orders while the the Swedish loose off a volley. The Swedish infantry manage to inflict some wear on the streltsy but the 

Russians slammed into the Swedish pike and shot. The bardishe axes allow the streltsy to ignore the wear marker in melee, they roll 6 dice and inflict 3 wear markers on the Swedes. 

The Swedish dragoon regiment probably should have charged the Russian dragoon detachment but they opted to engage in a firefight instead. Soon the Russian pike and shot battalion started pouring fire into the dragoons as well and they were on the brink of breaking. 

At this point, after 3 quick turns, I opted to conclude the practice run. I keep forgetting to conduct orders check rolls for reactions and when worn units are tying to act on orders. I learned that those streltsy are pretty nasty in melee against other infantry. Tercios is a great ruleset. I really need to play it more. 

On a side note, I really like using the plastic bushes from Monster Fight Club as clumps of trees for my 6mm and 10mm games. They don't take up much storage space because they are stackable, they are pretty much impervious to damage in storage and I think they look really nice on the tabletop. They aren't cheap but I think I may have to get a bunch more. I think they used to have a convention sale when I would see them at various HMGS shows.

The Road to Narva 1656

So it appears that I will be getting together with my friend Alex to roll some dice and push some (tiny) lead soldiers. Next week we will play a hypothetical battle from the Russo-Swedish War during the Deluge. The rules will be Liber Militum: Tercios and the figures will be from my freshly painted 6mm Baccus collection. 

I generated the scenario using ChatGPT and tweaked the OOBs to what I had and wanted to use. ChatGPT provided the following scenario background (I designed the crude map in MS Paint):

"In late 1656, the Tsardom of Russia launched an offensive into Swedish Livonia. After the capture of Dorpat, a Russian detachment under Prince Ivan Khovansky advanced towards Narva to secure the approaches to Ingria. A Swedish relief force under Governor-General Magnus De la Gardie marched south to cut off the Russian column before it could consolidate its gains.

The battle takes place on open ground near a small Livonian village, where the Swedes attempt to block the Russian advance while the Russians push aggressively to drive them back."

I swapped out Prince Ivan Khovansky for my Pyotr Potyomkin which is historically plausible. I gave De la Gardie and Potyomkin Colonel Burmeister and Ivan Poltev (respectively) as their assistant commanders and I will provide all of them with some traits for added flavor. Poltev was, in fact, Pyotr's assistant commander. Burmeister was a cavalry colonel who was involved in the Livonian campaign and seems to have been fairly aggressive and fairly successful.

The Russian forces have Potyomkin (on the left) commanding two streltsy battalions, a detachments of dragoon, one detachment of cossacks and both artillery batteries. Ivan Poltev has command of two westernized battalions and a reiter regiment. I bungled the picture and left both dragoon detachments with ol' Pyotr. 

The Swedes will begin the game with two pike and shot units, a green coated dragoon regiment, an artillery battery all commander by De la Gardie (on the right). On turn 3, a Swedish relief force will arrive commanded by Colonel Christopher Burmeister which is comprised of a pike and shot unit and a cavalry regiment. If you look closely, the dragoons and horse are in the wrong positions and I have yet to add static grass to Colonel Burmeister's base. I should have this rectified by game time. 

The scenario will task the Russians with seizing a small village and attempting to drive the Swedes from the table. They will have a slight points advantage and the benefit of having all their units on the table to begin the battle. 

WarGames: "Shall We Play a Game?"

The title is a reference to the 1983 movie WarGames when the computer program WOPR asked what kind of game a young Matthew Broderick wished to play. 

Recently, I saw an episode of LittleWarsTV in which the club used ChatGPT to craft a Peninsular War scenario between Spanish Guerrilas and a French force. The approach taken seemed unbelievably easy so I decided to take some practice runs at this AI-driven scenario generation. 

I started off by asking ChatGPT to craft a wargames scenario during the Russo-Swedish War that occurred between 1656-1658. Surprisingly, it provided me a scenario for the Battle of Nyen which I played a few years ago with my friend Alex. I was blown away so I asked for a hypothetical scenario and the AI program gave me a battle where the Swedes were defending a ford crossing  and even gave me the historical context. Simply incredible! Pushing the envelope, I asked the program to craft the scenario using Liber Militum: Tercios wargaming rules and it tailored the scenario, more or less, to what the AI could find regarding the rules. There were things that I would need to tweak but the whole experiment was really quite impressive.

I don't often have a lot of time to game and sometimes scenarios are a time-consuming stumbling block. Using AI to generate plausible scenarios (real or hypothetical) along with the historical context will be incredibly helpful to improve my gaming experience. 

Sumer or Later...

I've previously mentioned how the illustrations in the book The Soldier by Richard Humble and Richard Scollins has been the inspiration for many of my wargaming interests. My interest in the Risorgimento, Sedgemoor, Flodden and the French Wars of Religion (specifically the battle of Dreux) were all because of seeing pictures on that book. 

Another illustration in that book is that of Sumerian soldiers with their big shields and long spears. Ever since laying eyes upon that picture I've always wanted to game Sumerian city states going to war with each other. Over the years I purchased figures in 10mm (Steve Barber and Magister Militum..not compatible by the way) and 15mm (Chariot I think) but never finished off the project. 

Baccus recently released a Sumerian range and I was tempted but opted not to purchase with all of the tariff craziness going on right now. I remembered that Micro World Games had a Sumerian range (as well as a cool 16th century range with landsknecht, reiters and gendarmes). I decided to place a relatively small order in for their Sumerians and it arrived today (great service and packaging by the way). 

I decided to post some of the MWG Sumerians next to some Baccus 17th century Sun King range pike for a size comparison. 

As you can see, the MWG figures are head and shoulders bigger than the Baccus 6mm. I don't have any of the Baccus Sumerians but I'm not sure they would be able to mix together. 

Anyway, I doubt I will tackle the Sumerian project anytime soon. I've thought about rules and there's the possibility of using Trebian's "To Ur is Human" rules although I might have to change the basing for them to suit my preferences. 

Ottoman Blues and a lack of time...

I was talking to my good friend and fellow gamer about how our hobby time is very limited these days and the frustrations that come from it. This year has really been difficult as far as time and schedules are concerned. Wargaming conventions have been missed, painting time is curtailed and gaming opportunities nearly impossible. Even when I do have time, often I am lacking the motivation or energy to take advantage of the opportunity. Until these realities change, I will try to take advantage of the moments I have and progress with painting miniatures so that they are ready to make war on the tabletop when the opportunity arrives. 

I recently completed a 6mm 17th century Muscovite army and a 10mm Macedonian army. With time limited, I am delaying the start of a new project. I am just painting figures that were partially painted and lingering on my hobby desk. The current task were a bunch of Crimean War Ottomans that I primed blue nearly 2 years ago! 

The figures are 10mm Magister Militum and were acquired right before MM went out of business. Luckily Peter Berry's Tenth Legion endeavor has acquired the 10mm offerings from MM. 

I think I primed them with GW Macragge Blue, applied a very diluted blue/black ink wash, dry brushed with more Macragge Blue. That was the plan at least, I'm thinking these may have just been primed only. Anyway, the figures are fairly straight forward to paint if a bit tedious with the white straps. 

References indicate the Ottoman uniforms and equipment were pretty rag-tag. I've thought about mixing in some random brown or grey pants and giving a few brown leather accoutrements or a varied blanket rolls. That may be too much effort. 

I should also point out something....I often go to great lengths to determine what a soldier's uniform looked like. Despite the efforts at historical authenticity, I will snib my nose at it and paint it differently for aesthetic purposes. With the Ottoman fellas above, the fez tassel should be a dark blue like the uniform. I intentionally went a light blue for the purposes of color contrast and diversity. I also added a yellow tassel button (I had seen some color plates showing a gold button, I went yellow instead) just to give the figures a little extra pop of color. 

I think I have 3 battalions worth of Ottoman infantry to finish (about 70+ figures). I'm not sure what is next after these guys are done. I think there are some Ottoman cavalry, 10mm Greek mercenary hoplites (earmarked for service in my Persian army), 6mm Scottish infantry for my Killiecrankie project and perhaps some other stuff too. While time is limited and schedules are wonky, it doesn't really matter which project I'm working on, what matters is that I make progress. Paint now (when I can) and game later. 

Complete: Pikes and Pachyderms

I have previously posted on the nearing completion of my 10mm Macedonian/Successor army for To The Strongest rules. Today I managed to snap a picture of the army in its entirety. 

And above is an image of all it's glory: 6 pike blocks, 3 units of mercenary hoplites, 2 bases of hypaspists, 2 units of Thessalian cavalry, 2 bases of purple-clad companions, 3 bases of slingers, 2 bases of archers, 6 bases of "elephant screens" and 3 commanders. 

While I had the armies out of their storage trays, I decided to pose a few staged battle scenes featuring Successors versus Romans.

Some Successor elephants with their screen of bow-armed skirmishers face off against pesky Roman velites. 

 

Next up we have some pike-armed phalangites ready to skewer Roman Hastati, Princeps and Triarii. It's been mentioned in the posts covering my Roman army but the red shield reflect Roman legions and yellow shields are their romanized Latin allies. 

Lastly we have a rather gallant charge of Companion cavalry led by their king. Opposing them are Roman cavalry who are led (from behind) by a Consul. 

I want to briefly touch upon the basing approach I use for these armies. There was a time when grass tufts were becoming more available that I was using them... overusing them (see my WW1 armies as an example). My approach to the  armies for TTS was different. I try to cut corners to speed up the painting by priming in black and leaving alot of the black to create depth. Highlights are minimal. Basing is also simplistic. Initially I used a gel paste for texture but I now use a fine sand since it's quicker and less messy. Folkart craft paint is used for the sandy earth (Teddy Bear Tan for these armies) followed by a dry brush of bone white or off white and application of fine grass turf from Woodland Scenics. Not fancy but effective. 

With three TTS armies complete (Macedonian, Roman and Carthaginian), I hope to get in some games with them and also ultimately paint up my Indian and Persian armies.