Travelogue XVI: French Army Museum V Vauban

The entire top floor of the French Army Museum was
dedicated to topographical 3D maps of Vauban fortifications.

the models were gorgeous

filled with many details

 One particular fort, outside Marseilles caught my attention as a prospective siege and landing game location.

Chateau d'If

I could imagine a large landing force game
played out on a games table

perhaps a challenge to our
in house terrain master?

My bride rested as I walked around the many exhibition tables,
most of them 12'x20' or more in size.

Eventually I was ready to move on to the next part of Les Invalides
The Dome

Travelogue III : Drogheda C

 There was still remaining a small section of the 12th Century walls, which had been part of the Norman Motte and Bailey fortification.

Our local (here on Vancouver Island) terrain expert might have some real value to gain from these images, which is a big reason why I took the time to get these photos.

weather was gorgeous on the day, with fair weather cumulus the only clouds

Obviously there are 300 years more of moss accumulation, plant adjustment to the nearly 1000 year old walls, yet still the color and presentation of these walls can be seen.

After visiting the commercial museum, or perhaps merchant museum (?) where the merchant history of Drogheda was showcased, we did a little road trip into town to view one of the last gatehouse towers that still exist from the 12th Century outer walls.

the reason why this place was so defended
it made life worth living in so many ways

what the city would have looked like in plan
just before the English sieges began

St Laurence's Gate

with my bride and I for scale ...

St Laurence's Gate as seen from the inside
of the defensive perimeter

we then went on to Four Knocks, a stone age/iron age site, with a similar history and carvings as Newgrange.

Fire & Stone Tabletop grid for Siege Warfare

The control sheet (if you will) for running the Fire & Stone game that is underway now at Trumpeter Salute.

Another Siege Warfare Game planning session - more detailed rules

Yet another game day at the chalk table, again working on the siege warfare game plan.

This time round more clarity regarding 'sallies' and things like counter saps, defensive trench works, and the 'switch' between tactical and strategic time-scales.

We also added a small cavalry force to the defenders and a commanded shot to both forces.

All players continued in their same roles as before either attacker or defender, so as to get a complete feed back.

the defenders sent out a sally on day 2

drove back the diggers and managed to kill off more than half of the attackers starting horse forces

defensive artillery was also successful in causing enough casualties to stop a trench section of the second parallel

the defenders left troops outside the walls and they dug a defensive trench works

siege artillery still broke open a section of the wall (may have to 'beef up the walls values) then came the assault under fire

morale rules worked out well as less of the attackers totally committed to the attack and so were alive at the end of the action

likewise the defender had some morale failures, including a critical one with the lord of the castle failing a saving throw at a critical moment ... the defenses were overcome!

long range view at the end

the assault at the breach was just able to overcome the stationed defenses, but could not enter the works

the butchers' bill was similarly high for both sides

So now I must compile notes and get a quick reference sheet ready for game play.

Rob has a better picture of the terrain needs.

I will need to make some more 'entrenchment' forces and some of the ladders and wooden parts that will be forming the siege works.

Certainly the game is engaging all the way along, for both sides, as the players are fully 'into' the game from start to finish.

Siege Warfare ECW era, rough planning

carnage after a wild rush assault ... maybe 6 men got into the castle out of more than 100 ...

In preparation for a siege warfare game ... in planning for Salute 2019 ... we set out some sample troops and used a chalk board to simulate the planned 'sections' for the game.

for the first run, we just lined up the troops and assaulted over the glacis ... the results were 90%+ casualties among the attackers with nearly 100% for the defenders

for the second attempt, there was an 'offset' second parallel that got dug out, then the attack went in 'piecemeal' ... results again nearly 90% casualties among the attackers with 100% losses for the defender

the second run featured an attempt to scale the walls facing the enemy guns ... with devastating results on both forces

Third time being the 'charm' we ran one more go, this time the focus was to be all about engineering ...

Day 1 with two LONG saps

day 3 after more saps and now a proper second parallel

day 6, the counter mine opened into the third parallel and the assault went in, the defenders were overwhelmed by cannonade from the forward moved guns and lost 100%, while the attackers losses were less than 30%

More revisions and plans need to be made to help make 'clear' such things as 'sallies' and the 'strategic digging day' vs the 'tactical combat day'

There's going to be another go at this game - this time to include simple morale rules.