GARDEN WARS

On 17 June, my eldest and I set out a match between a Russian and French force.

Both were of considerable size and composition.


The Russians included Cossacks and Siege Artillery, while the French boasted large Dragoon and Hussar forces. Both had a grenadier contingent.

This time round we decided to use the entire back yard, the French deployment area included a forward moving pursuit force on the road leading to the Russian center left. My youngest boy was going to 'help' me with the Russian command.


The French, run by my eldest son, chose to place some of their allied infantry in their left flank to press into an opening between two wooded areas.


Russian Grenadiers (simulated by these Pavlov Grenadiers) were placed well back from the main Russian lines ready to take advantage of the road to plunge into the left center should the French choose to press hard.


More towards the center rear of the Russian position were some Hussars, ready again to respond where needed.


Giving an overview of the Russian positions as seen from the left wing here:


a view of the some of the Russian Light Dragoons, looking towards my young opponent commander...


Once into action the French send forward their elite Dragoons formations, racing down the road into the Russian center left and the church steeple town.


Meanwhile on the French left columns of infantry pushed up the low rise and towards to opening between two forest sections seeking to penetrate the Russian line.


The gap was close to the Russian lines and the move was not unanticipated, the number of French troops was a concern as to whether the single Russian division could hold back two French ones. So orders were dispatched to the light Dragoons to fill in the extreme left of the woods gap.


French allied Infantry pressed on to face down the advancing Russians, making three infantry columns moving into the French side of the woods gap.



The Light Dragoons were faster and used a first charge to halt and rout one column of French Infantry.

Meanwhile along the road into the Russian town, the Cavalry melee had begun. First some of the French Grenadier Horse was pounded by the Russian guns, they ended up seeking the shelter of the buildings to get their horses re-organized. Then the second column of French Dragoons arrived and were met by Russian Dragoons, it was a huge tangle brawl of charges and counter-charges that followed...

Russian command chose to send in Russian Hussars to ensure that the French did not break through the town sector.

This was because the Russian Grenadiers had been ordered to move forward and they were vulnerable, should the French horse break out...

Still solid in the center of the Russian positions were the siege and foot batteries of the artillery park, seen here with covering foot battalions.




The confused cavalry melees in the town sector sorted out, the French simply did not have enough reserves to maintain their early momentum. The Russian Hussars arrived to find that the opponents were gone...




French High Command moved forward to maintain contact with the forward deployed columns. No reserves were left to throw into the action now as the light cavalry Chasseurs a Cheval were now committed to the woods gap, a breakthrough there could yet win the day.

Now the battle for victory could be tested. The French had lost a lot of cavalry, while the Russians did loose some, they were not as taxed. The French needed to gain the woods gap to secure the ground before nightfall. Else the next day could see their flank turned and no where for the Grenadiers to go but back ...


With the Hussars, Chasseurs and light cavalry division going into the forest gap, this was the moment of truth!

As the light of the day was fading the Russian line infantry was up to the task!

They fired on the bloodied Chasseur a Cheval, then on more Hussars that had just scattered the light Dragoons ...

Over on the Russian left center the Russian cavalry was now consolidating their gains while staying out of French artillery range.


The French Grenadier Division had set up formations and was pouring out artillery fire ... enough to keep the Russians back.


The light from the day was fading as the Russian Grenadiers were pushing forward from the town along the road. With the French light cavalry division routed back to the start lines there was no doubt that this day of battle was a tactical Russian victory!

Garden Wars Game



The game was played last Friday, there are loads of pictures and I have not yet been able to make time in my work to get a full posting done.

Here is my opponent with his HQ at the end of the game.

He has been after me since then to do a rematch or another game ... I have some ideas on how to speed things up taken from Le Feu Sacre.

I must be away now until next week and since that would delay more I thought to leave you with this image of the happy fella.

Napoleonic Pick up Game



Seeking to get in some tabletop time with dad my eldest son requested a fast game.

So we did a rear-guard action of the Russians vs. French from 1805.






The Russians had a line of hills and some defensive works. Had to hold for 8 turns.

The French were attacking at 2-1 odds.




Here is some eye candy.





Essentially I only managed to get the Russians to hold for 7 turns before being forced to retreat.

Garden Wars returns!


My son Alex was so keen to play another garden wars, now that the weather has turned, that he was willing to mow the lawn out for the forest sections.

Other work activities have taken over and pushed the game a day however I thought it worthwhile to prepare the blog ground as well as my son prepared the 'garden' battlefield...

Carniola, the skirmish battle
a proxy game for Emperor vs. Elector

You can read of the full scenario plans here.

The tabletop layout looked like this:


Herein follows the account of Elmar Wilhelms, a member of the household of Lady Elisenda Folc de Cardona whom was riding on the tailboard and baggage of the Lady's carriage at the moment of the start of these events.



To our left was a great woods, a bare hilltop could be seen in the distance beyond. We were approaching a couple of farm buildings first one to our left, then further along one to the right. I had just agreed to prepare to watch the right when a call 'to arms' was raised by the Dragoon officer. I felt the coach shudder from some commotion inside the cabin and heard the report of a long arm musket. From the building to the left ... one of the draft team pulling the carriage was dead and now the coach drover was having to apply the brake and reign in the horses. My fellow on the top of the carriage now, Harman had taken a shot at the approaching riders and he vanished in a puff of the powder smoke from his pistol, I saw the Dragoon Officer fall from his saddle. Then I saw the wild riders approaching and fired my own pistol at them.



When my smoke had cleared, Miss Fiona was demanding a pistol from the baggage that we had been loading afresh each morning on her orders. She then fired her own shot at the mercenary riders now fully engaged with the dragoons.



From ahead I heard some strange shouting, the Dragoons had realized their officer was dead and they were attempting to setup a plan of action, one of them shouted a warning and I heard volley of shots come out from the building to the left, three of the forward dragoons were wounded and one was dropped from his horse, trapped.

Miss Fiona then grabbed another pistol and ran to the rear of the coach. I readied my second pistol and fired again into the mass of riders, there were fewer Dragoons and less of the strange red cloaked riders, but there were still more of them than Dragoons... Lady Elisenda then came out from the coach and she drew a pistol from our collection on the tailboard. She herself then fired into the red mercenary riders, hitting one square in the chest and felling him. Another loud volley from muskets came from ahead and more Dragoons fell, there were another group of mercenaries that had taken cover next to a tall rock wall and were firing from behind it into the ranks of the Dragoons.


I heard a wild shout and a tall man with a long coat and huge beard came charging out from the door of the house ... he swung the sword with all his might against the harnesses, seeking to separate the lead good horses from the dead and wounded ones near the coach, one coachman had jumped down to break the dead horse free from the harness and was now hiding behind the animals carcass as this wild madman rushed at him.


I jumped from the tailboard with my sword and a final pistol as Harman and our leader of the household staff Markus shouted for me to join him in a line between the Lady Elisenda and the backs of the hard pressed Dragoons. Miss Fiona had run to the deadly side of the coach to catch the Dragoon officers' horse, while the Marquis of Rubi had dashed some paces away to catch another of the Dragoon Horses. He mounted it while we watched the Dragoons now holding their own against these red devils...


The madman from the house now charged at the helpless drover and cut him down, just as the Count of Erill moved to his defense, now the Count was facing this madman! Markus rushed to the old man's aid and shouted for us to continue to cover the Lady.

Miss Fiona then rode into view on the Dragoon officers Horse while the Madman and the Count were fencing. Clearly the big man with the beard was not paying as much attention to the Count as he was the two ladies...

One of the red devils broke free from his attack on the Dragoons and rode into the river crossing it and making for the open ground beyond. The madman shouted something like,

"LUIJI! I will find you in hell!"

The big man then broke free from his attack on the Count and rushed to Miss Fiona, holding out his sword as though to cut her and pointing his pistol.

"Off your horse l'il lady!" he commanded. Miss Fiona glanced at Lady Elisenda, who was moving to mount the same horse, she smirked and nodded to the Marquis of Rubí, then she winked.

She made her horse gallop away from the great madman who instantly shot at her ... and missed! Now he was full of mad rage and rushed towards Lady Elisenda, who mounted the horse as the Marquis dismounted. I heard another volley from the rock wall musket men and watched the last of the Dragoons in the van of our party fall from his saddle.

Now I rushed to the aid of Markus and the Count of Erill, Harman was lagging behind me as we managed to parry one of the thrusts and swings towards this old Count. The Marquis seemed to be looking further down the road behind our battle, shouting something about more riders!

Now I was fully engaged against this great big bearded madman! His huge sword cut and thrust with a ferocity I have never before seen! Twice it seemed as though the Count was done for and each time either I or Markus managed to deflect the blade enough to keep the Count alive, though he was moving his own sword in some defense, we were certainly not able to make any advances against this skilled madman. Then from behind him a pistol shot rang out. Harman had shot him in the back, Markus thrust home and I joined him in ensuring that the big man would not rise again.



I looked about, in horror seeing another troop of mercenary riders chasing Miss Fiona who was well past any help we could possibly offer. Then I spied Lady Elisenda riding into the wooded orchard near this column of riders, they split and the front group moved to surround Miss Fiona, while Lady Elisenda changed direction and left the four horsemen chasing her on the wrong side of the orchard ... by the time the got around she was five lengths ahead and gaining ground.


The other riders turned out to be Hussars from Syldavia and after a tense few seconds while the red riders flew from the scene our wounded Dragoons stood back to let their troop officer come forward.



The other mercenaries began to flee into the woods now from the back of the building and behind the stone wall.

More shouts were heard from the distant riders, then they all seemed to dissipate.

It was a minute later that we discovered that Miss Fiona had been killed by the riders, her horse was cut down and without any weapon of her own to use she was likewise cut down.



Before we could catch up with Lady Elisenda we searched the houses and the area where the gunmen had come from. Within the hut there was a strange musket, such as I had never seen before, most certainly it was the weapon of that bearded madman. Scratched into the butt of the weapon in crude letters was "MARIO". Other than some scraps of food little else was found.

Lady Elisenda was last seen riding to the border post, she was to learn of the death of Miss Fiona sometime later ....



Your Gaming Crew:

Carniola done!


The battle for Carniola has been played out.

Now I need to get some sleep and process the pictures to tell the story of these great events!

More by Wednesday.

CARNIOLA PREP



The Emperor vs. Elector blog has proxy battles come up from time to time.

This time its a little scenario called Carniola, all designed for a skirmish situation.

Above is an overview of all the troops for the game planned, below is the critical 'cargo'.



I have one confirmed player for tomorrow, with a second very likely.

Should be a fun little game, look for AAR here by Wednesday.

The Sword and the Flame

A game at Jeff's was a setup skirmish meeting between a 'trapped' British / Sepoy force and a relief column of British and Sikhs and two tribes of Pashtun.



Set in a hilly, rocky, lightly wooded area there were plenty of places for the Pashtun to get set up and keep cover.

The British column was to come to the aid of the 'fort' / town ... they were told that hundreds of natives were in the hills ...

So we start:

The British column chose to take the most direct path, past a large hill ... this was the critical choice.




Meanwhile the men in the town were to awake to the sound of Jezail firing, the first volleys being able to clear the men out from any sort of visible locations.



Then there was a group of rifle armed Pashtun that charged into a copse of tall grasses and palms just outside the wall and building entrance, for the Sepoy troops this proved to be too much and they were gunned down quickly.

The relief column continued to advance, carefully first checking the rocky areas on both flanks, then when their scouts had slowed the column pressed on blindly coming across a wave of Pashtun sword waving warriors madly rushing the stretched out column.

Then the Red Coats fired, these warriors backed off, though for the lone scout in the hill region, this was not good as it left him surrounded...

The town battle had dropped off, as the British forces had fallen back into a covered corner behind buildings and a low wall ... not going well at all as the Pashtun Riflemen simply moved in to the open spaces over the many Sepoy dead.



The Pashtun warriors on the hill were not done yet, they rushed the British again, meanwhile the Ghurka had broken out of the rough terrain and made their own charge against some Jezail armed Pashtun.

The British Regulars were driven back by the renewed charge of the Pashtun hill tribesmen, they lost their leader in the process and chose to withdraw back into the hilly region satisfied with chasing the red coats away.




The Ghurka did not fare so well in their charge, they were killed or wounded down to two men that fled the field.

Back in the town the British and Sepoy forces had withdrawn from the walls and were now in a copse of palms and tall grasses. Two forces of sword and spear armed Pashtuns were bearing down on them from outside the town.



That copse of palms and tall grasses was a killing zone where the British and Sepoy officers were first wounded then outright killed when overrun by Pashtun tribesmen.

Now the Pashtun Hill became a scene of utter chaos, as the Sikhs were charged by another tribe of Pastuns.



This tribe, first scared the Sikhs yet again they did not charge home and this time they became pinned at the base of the hill and remained that way. However now another force of Jezails had arrived and began a merciless barrage from beyond any range that the Sikhs could return fire, the mules that had been brought to carry out the wounded from the town were now filling fast with the bodies of Sikh riflemen.



The game end came as the British relief column commander realized he was never going to reach the town. He turned off from this destination and fled the field.

The only troops left from the town were now holed up in a small outer building from the town, under fire from Jezails and soon to face further rifle attack...

All in all a good game day and Alex and his friend want to play MORE!