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APR / MAY 2022

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FEATURES:
8

ORIGINAL GROGNARDS AND FINAL RESERVES

74470 72175

Republican Romans at Aquae Sextiae

WARGAMING WITH NAPOLEON'S RENOWNED IMPERIAL GUARD Speirs leads Dog and Easy Company in
a defence of 'Bloody Gulch'
A brief history of the Imperial Guard // Holding back the Bavarians at Hanau Converting sponges into hedges
Assaulting Heurtebise Farm // The Young Guard are cornered at Plancenoit Let's play 02 Hundred Hours
0
 THEME: NAPOLEON'S IMPERIAL GUARD

36 THE ORIGINAL GROGNARDS

The almost-always-in-reserve Imperial Guard
40 CLEAR THE WOODS
The Battle of Hanau: 30 – 31 October, 1813
Editor-in-chief: Jasper Oorthuys 46 THE BATTLE OF HEURTEBISE FARM
Editor: Guy Bowers
Copy editor: Naomi Munts
'The most desperately contested of battles'
Layout, design: Christianne C. Beall 50 STEMMING BLUCHER'S TIDE
Maps: Rocío Espin
© 2019 Karwansaray Publishers
56 POUR L'EMPEREUR!
Contributors: Angel Aparicio, Mark Backhouse, Ian Beal, Steve
The Imperial Guard in miniature
Beckett, Joe Bilton, David Davies, David Frederick, Tony Har-
wood, Jonathan Jones, Eoghan Kelly, Chris King, Joseph Mc- 60 EN AVANT!
Cullough, Stuart Mulligan, Martin Oaff, Chris Payne, Rick Priest- Charge of the Lancers of the Guard
ley, Nick Stock

Illustrations: Georgie Harman

https://www.facebook.com/redfoxillustrations

Print: Grafi Advies BV FEATURES

Editorial office 18 MARCHER LORD
PO Box 4082, 7200 BB Zutphen, The Netherlands
Norman and Welsh forces skirmish at Ogmore
Phone: +31-848-392256 (European main office),
+1-800-549-4742 (US answering service) 20
Email: editor@wssmagazine.com
The Battle of Aquae Sextiae, 102 BC
Customer service 24 ISOLATED AT BLOODY GULCH
service@karwansaraypublishers.com Lieutenant Speirs and D Company, 506th PIR
Website: www.wssmagazine.com
30 PIKE BOW, AND LIVERY COAT
Contributions in the form of articles, letters, reviews, news and Collecting and gaming the early Tudor Wars
queries are welcomed. Please send to the above address or use
the contact form on www.wssmagazine.com

Subscriptions
Subscriptions can be purchased at www.kp-shop.com, via phone
or by mail. See above for the address. HOBBY
Distribution 66 A LITTLE PIECE OF NORMANDY
Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy is sold through retailers, the in-
ternet and by subscription. If you wish to become a sales outlet,
please contact us at service@karwansaraypublishers.com 68 HEDGING YOUR BORDERS
Scratch-built hedges for the wargame table
The exclusive distributor for the UK and the Republic of Ireland is
Seymour Distribution Ltd, 2 East Poultry Avenue, London
EC1A 9PT, UK. www.seymour.co.uk. Tel: +44 (0)207 429 4000.

Copyright Karwansaray BV. All rights reserved. Nothing in this

publication may be reproduced in any form without prior writ- DEPARTMENTS
ten consent of the publishers. Any individual providing material
for publication must ensure that the correct permissions before MINIATURE REVIEWS
submission to us. Every effort has been made to trace copyright 6
holders, but in a few cases this proves impossible. The editor
and publishers apologize for any unwitting cases of copyright THIS GAMING LIFE
transgressions and would like to hear from any copyright holders 16 New Year's resolution
not acknowledged. Articles and the opinions expressed herein
do not necessarily represent the views of the editor and/or pub- THE IRREGULAR
lishers. Advertising in Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy does not 64 Painting miniatures in 1990 (American style)
necessarily imply endorsement.
LET'S PLAY 02 HUNDRED HOURS
Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy is published every 72 The brand-new WWII commando stealth game
two months by Karwansaray BV, Rotterdam, the
Netherlands. GAME REVIEWS
76 BOHICA, This very Ground: Victory or Death, and more
ISSN: 2211-503X
BOOK REVIEWS
Printed in Slovakia. 80 More books reviewed by the WS&S team
PARTING SHOTS
82 Tips, tricks and laughs for every wargamer

4 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119

 Editorial
He was a grenadier … black with powder, covered in mud, legs
stretched out, exhausted, soaked with sweat, but holding his musket
… saying to me, “… leave me to die here on the battlefield! I cannot
move; it is not courage that I am lacking, it is strength! … It is all
over! Poor France!” I left him, tears running from my eyes …

— Chef d’Escadron, Marie-Jean-Baptiste Lemonnier-Delafosse

© Georgie Harman
At Waterloo, Napoleon committed the French Imperial Guard as
a last attempt to break the Allied lines. In doing so, he also threw
away any hope of his army maintaining any coherency. Had the
Guard been used to cover the retreat, Napoleon might have saved some of the
French army. Instead, they were wasted in one last gamble.

Napoleon took that gamble of committing the Guard knowing there was no alter-
native – if he retreated it would be a repeat of 1814, with the Austrian and Russian
reinforcements coming. No matter his skill in the field, numbers still counted. His
only chance was to beat the British and the Prussians and then come to terms.

In this issue, I have chosen to explore the French Imperial Guard and give read-
ers a real taste of what they were like. Supermen they were not, but no-one can
doubt their skill, endurance, and bravery. Hopefully this issue will dispel some
of the myths behind the French Imperial Guard. In the end, at Waterloo, even
the Guard failed to hold.

For our next issue, we turn to a favourite of mine, France 1940. On paper, the
Allies should have won, so what is it about the German Bewegungskrieg that
was so successful?
–– Guy Bowers

editor@wssmagazine.com

Now available online: And coming in the next issue:

THE BATTLE OF MARENGO FRANCE 1940

At the battle of Marengo Napoleon's Consular Guard first saw Germany strikes! We look at the campaign of May-June 1940 in
action. Four years later, this unit grew into the Imperial Guard. France and the Low Countries to find out how an army with light
(https://www.wssmagazine.com/wss119_extra) tanks and horses defeated the strongest power of the age.

Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 5

 MINIATURE REVIEWS A look at some of the newest miniatures, terrain
MINI REVIEWS

pieces, and more from across the wargaming world.

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Gripping Beast has recently Now here is another use-

Lycian warriors released several new ranges USAF downed aircrew ful Vietnam release from
Company: Gripping Beast of ancients suitable for the Company: Gringo 40’s Gringo 40’s: downed
Size: 27mm ‘foot to eye’ Punic Wars and the SAGA Size: 28mm ‘foot to eye’ USAF aircrew. These can
or 30mm tall book Age of Hannibal. Fol- or 31mm tall be used for scenario objec-
Era: Ancients lowing on from the Syra- Era: Vietnam War tives (rescue the downed
Price: £7.00 for four models cusans come three packs Price: £1.75 per model pilots) or for on-table air-
www.grippingbeast.co.uk of Lycians (command, at- www.gringo40s.com craft that get shot down.
tacking, and advancing). This range reminds me of
These brave warriors were the famous rescue of Iceal
part of the Ionian states that E. ‘Gene’ Hambleton, a
resisted the Persian Em- downed navigator who
pire, before being absorbed by them. They were ‘freed’ by had to be rescued from behind enemy lines, as famously
the Athenians but managed to escape the clutches of the dramatized in the film Bat*21 (1988). There are seven air-
Athenian Empire only to be absorbed by the Persians again crew currently, two seated pilots and a door gunner (for
before being absorbed by the Macedonians (where they 1/48 scale aircraft), and five USAF aircrew on foot. These
served as mercenaries) and Romans in turn! As such, these consist of two running pilots with drawn pistols, one air-
miniatures have good mileage. They will otherwise make man pointing (who’d make a good assistant aircrew for
good light hoplites, as they have little armour. The models a landed aircraft), and two armed crew with maps. The
are well cast and have good detail. Size wise, they are mid- models are all well cast with minimal mould lines. Size-
ranged and should fit with most existing ranges. These will wise, these are on the more heroic side of 28mm but
be a useful addition for Greek or Macedonian generals. should be compatible with most existing ranges.

Steyr ADGZ 45

reconnaissance car 40

Company: RKX Miniatures 35

Size: 1/56 30
Era: World War II 25

Price: £22.00
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RKX miniatures specializes in the more unusual vehicles
for World War II. One recent release is the Steyr ADGZ
armoured car. Initially designed for the Austrian govern-
ment, the vehicle was adopted by the SS after the An-
schluss of 1938. Some 27 vehicles were captured, with
a further 25 being built until production was stopped in
1941. The ADGZ was used exclusively by the SS in the
frontline before being moved into policing and anti-parti-
san duties. Some were given to Croatia in 1943. The mod-
el is cast in resin, and as we have come to expect from
RKX, the castings are crisp and accurate. Mould lines are
very hard to spot; this is top notch! Assembly is easy and
minimal: just stick the turret and wheels on. This unusual
and cool-looking vehicle is useful for SS players for the
early war, or for anti-partisan duties in France, on the east-
ern front, or in the former Yugoslavia post 1942.

6 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119

 BY GUY BOWERS AND CHRIS KING

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The latest release from Sally Following on from its Dark

Guards, guards! 4th is a range of fantasy city Plastic Dark Age Picts Age Irish, Gripping Beast
Company: Sally 4th guards. This range definitely Company: Gripping Beast has released more plastics,
Size: 29mm ‘foot to eye’ pays homage to a certain Size: 27mm ‘foot to eye’ this time for the Picts and
or 33mm tall fantasy writer and his hu- or 30mm tall the Welsh. Each box con-
Era: Medieval fantasy morous set of books set on a Era: Dark Ages tains 25 men, enough to
Price: £8.00 for two models world in the shape of a disc. Price: £18.00 for 25 models fill out your average SAGA
www.wargamesbuildings.co.uk Featured here are some of www.grippingbeast.co.uk warband or a unit for a
the City Watch, including big-battle game. These are
their ‘Vimey’ commander based on the plastic Irish
(who for once wears a de- and are about 80% the
cent set of boots!). There are same. What sets them apart
five guard packs in total, plus two of university wizards. Fur- is a few different heads (including hooded heads for the
ther packs include an intelligent Orangutang (presumably a Picts), different cloaks, and some square shields on the Pict
librarian?), with a gnome, a lady with dragons, and an an- sprue. The Picts get an extra hand-axe and a Pict crossbow,
cient and venerable barbarian (mounted and dismounted). while the Welsh get additional spears. The Dane axe from
Suffice to say, this is a very characterful collection! Each the Irish sprue has gone (but that’s not a Pict nor a Welsh
comes with its own ‘slotta’ base. The models are well cast weapon). Bases are not included. Construction is easy and
with few visible mould lines. The models are slightly on the the parts are interchangeable with the vast array of Grip-
chunky side but size wise, they should fit with most 28mm ping Beast plastics. While I would have preferred more
fantasy figures. These will be a must for fantasy skirmish war- heads and a few more different weapons, these sets are still
gamers and role players after something a little different. a useful and inexpensive addition to the period.

Green Goddess fire engine 45

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Company: Warbases
Size: 1/56 35

Era: World War II 30

Price: £15.00 for the Green Goddess 25

www.war-bases.co.uk 20

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Commando Miniatures has released a range of resin vehi-
cles. These include a Ferret armoured car, a Series 1 Land
Rover, a Humber Pig, and a Saladin armoured car. The
latest vehicles to be added to this range are a Bedford
RLHZ Self Propelled Pump fire engine (better known as
the Green Goddess) and a one-ton Land Rover fire control
vehicle. Introduced in 1953, the Green Goddess served
in the Auxiliary Fire Service until 2004. Their primary role
was to act as pumps to direct huge quantities of water
from rivers and lakes to fight fires after a nuclear attack.
They saw service in the firefighters’ disputes of 1977 and
2002 and in the Winter of Discontent of 1979. The model
is a resin and metal kit with good detail. Construction is
very easy: simply add wheels and the ladder. This will be
useful for 1960s to 1980s Cold War games and African
wars, as many were sold to African countries.

Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 7

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Author Dan Mersey has Bad Squiddo Games has

Dark Age warriors combined forces with his Female winter Soviet added to its range of be-
Company: Wiglaf Miniatures favourite sculptor Mark Company: Bad Squiddo Games lievable female miniatures
Size: 18mm ‘foot to eye’ Copplestone to produce a Size: 27mm ‘foot to eye’ by releasing more female
or 20mm tall new range of 18mm Dark or 30mm tall Soviets. This time, they are
Era: Dark Ages and early medieval Age miniatures, coincid- Era: World War II in winter gear, so long coats
Price: £7.20 for twelve models ing nicely with Dan’s lat- Price: £15.00 for six female soldiers and fur caps. Over 800,000
wiglafminiatures.wordpress.com est ruleset, Age of Penda, www.badsquiddogames.com female soldiers served in
which WS&S reviewed last the Soviet armies, making
issue. The range currently up 5% of the total number.
consists of four packs of While many served as med-
Dark Age Saxon warriors ical personnel such as doc-
for the seventh century AD, although they will undoubt- tors and orderlies, female soldiers fought on the front line,
ably be usable for other factions. The packs consist of a notably as pilots, snipers, and tankers. The range consists of
warlord character pack (Penda of Mercia and Raedwald two packs of six riflewomen, an LMG team, and two com-
of East Anglia), armoured warriors, unarmoured warri- mand packs. There are supported by an 81 mm mortar team,
ors, and skirmishers (with javelins and bows). The mod- a Maxim MG team, snipers, and an AT rifle team. There are
els themselves well cast and are, frankly, charming! The also three packs of winter tank riders. Other recent addi-
detail is very good, worthy of 28mm models. The size of tions include female pilots, sappers, and dancing female
18mm may seem curious at first, but it actually puts this soldiers accompanied by an accordion! The entire range is
range comfortably among the larger 15mm ranges, such well cast and sculpted; the models are slightly shorter than
as Forged in Battle. This nice range will be a welcome the average 28mm, but these are the correct proportions for
surprise to 15mm/18mm Dark Age generals everywhere. female miniatures. Overall an excellent range!

Assyrian siege engine

Company: Artemis Warfare
Size: 160 mm long x 130 mm
high x 55 mm wide
Era: Biblical ancients
Price: £15.50 (completed £42.50)

www.artemiswarfare.co.uk

The Assyrians were without doubt the masters of siege war-
fare in the ancient period. Bas reliefs survive showing their
siege towers in action, including the famous siege of Lachish
in 701 BC. Similar models would have been used by other
nations in their sieges. Artemis’ range covers several siege
engines in 20mm scale (a siege tower, a battering ram, the
Trojan horse, and a working lithobolos stone-throwing ma-
chine), plus the walls of Troy. Reviewed here is the siege
tower, based on an Assyrian model and complete with
bladed ram. The kit is MDF and comes with instructions,
which need to be followed carefully and methodically. After
a while, the kit made sense and I fitted the rest without any
problems. The end result is very pleasing. While the model is
sized for 20mm, I think it’d fit well with 28mm models. The
kit also comes with several card-cut animal hides to stick to
the structure, but I’ve left them off to show the wood detail.

8 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119

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For a while now, Rubicon On the back of its lat-

Plastic Vietcong has toyed with the idea of Medieval Welsh est Kickstarter, Footsore
Company: Rubicon Models doing plastic miniatures, re- Company: Footsore Miniatures Miniatures is releasing an
Size: 27mm ‘foot to eye’ leasing a few in plastic and Size: 28mm ‘foot to eye’ or 31mm extensive range of 28mm
or 30mm tall in metal. It has now taken tall, Cavalry are 44mm tall medieval Welsh. The range
Era: Vietnam War the plunge and released Era: Late Dark Ages / is split into two, one cov-
Price: £33.00 for 32 models US Marines and Vietcong early medieval ering the earlier Norman
Price: £8.00 for four foot infantry
www.rubiconmodels.com (reviewed here) for the conquest (or earlier still,
Vietnam War. The results www.footsoreminiatures.co.uk the Saxon invasions of
are impressive. The box Wales), and one for high
comes literally packed with medieval – the twelfth and
sprues, enough to make 32 thirteenth centuries, that is
models. There are four male sprues (each with six soldiers) the Barons’ Wars, the last Welsh kings, and the conquest
and two female sprues (with four soldiers, plus command of Wales by Edward I. Of course, the earlier models can
upgrades). Each model has a choice of two different heads be used later with a few shield swaps. All the models are
and two or more weapons (either a Type 56 assault rifle, an sculpted by the talented Matthew Bickley. The coverage is
RPG-7, an SKS rifle, or a submachine gun). This allows them extensive; there are packs for each period covering spear-
to be built as ‘early’ VC or later, better-equipped VC. The men, bowmen, and cavalry, plus specific packs such as
only critique would be the lack of a squad machine gun, Dane axes for the earlier period and Welsh foot knights
such as the RPK, but presumably there will be some with a for the later period. All the models are full of character
future NVA set. Bases are provided as standard. While there and are well sculpted. The casting is likewise high quality.
is some construction required, this set is very well detailed The size is good and will be compatible with most exist-
and the finished models do look very good! ing ranges. This excellent range is recommended.

Sd.Kfz. 251 Ausf. A 45

Command 40

Company: Blitzkrieg Miniatures 35

Size: 1/56 30
Era: Early World War II 25

Price: £18.33 for one vehicle

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Blitzkrieg Miniatures has been releasing a series of early
war vehicles for the Germans. The latest release is the early
production Sd.Kfz. 251 Ausf. A (Blitzkrieg already produc-
es the Ausf. C and D, plus variants including the Zwilling
and Pioneer versions). The Sd.Kfz. 251 was designed as a
‘battle transport’ for Panzergrenadiers, so they could keep
up and support the advancing Panzers. The vehicle had a
crew of two and carried ten Panzergrenadiers; once they
had left the vehicle, it could provide fire support from the
vehicle machine gun. The kit can be built as the standard
Sd.Kfz. 251 or the command version with a 37 mm Pak.
The model is well cast and detailed; it requires a mini-
mum of construction – just glue on the wheels and add
the variant choice to the top of the structure. This vehicle
is perfect for European ‘tours’ around France (1940), into
the Balkans (1941), or into Russia (1941).

Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 9

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Warlord Games’ latest The Varangian Guard were

Epic Highlanders Epic: Waterloo plastics Varangian guard an elite unit of mercenaries
Company: Warlord Games include British Highland- Company: Fireforge who served as the personal
Size: 13.5mm ‘foot to eye’ or ers and French Imperial Size: 28mm ‘foot to eye’ bodyguards of the Byzan-
18mm to top of shako Guard. These figures ap- or 32mm tall tine Emperor from the ninth
Era: Napoleonics pear to have been scaled to Era: Medieval to the thirteenth century.
Price: £25.00 for 240x highland 15mm ‘from foot to top of Price: €25.00 (£23.00) for twelve Recruited from the Norse
infantry, 24x rifles, 3x colonels, guard infantry
the head’. Reviewed here and from Anglo-Saxons,
and 3x 5.5" Howitzers
are the British Highland- www.fireforge-games.com they fought with Dane axe
www.warlordgames.com ers – printed, of course, and spear, and they were
in red plastic. Each box of often used at critical points
Highlanders contains three in battle to break the en-
sprues with all the appropriate bases, plus flags. Each indi- emy line. They earned a reputation for being ferocious and
vidual plastic frame consists of eight rows of ten Scottish nigh invincible, being clad in the best armour. The mod-
Highlander infantry, eight skirmishing riflemen, a mounted els themselves are cast in a plastic resin. There are options
colonel, and a 5.5" howitzer. The skirmishing British rifles to equip the entire unit either with spears or Dane axes.
are particularly useful, as the previous set had the rifles in A little assembly is required; arms are glued to the torso
line. The French Imperial Guard set has 80 Guard (with (the heads are already attached), but the only tricky part is
optional heads for conversion), 30 Marines of the Guard, getting the Dane axes to align. Bases, spears, and shields
and 30 Engineers of the Guard. Also included is a mount- are all provided as standard. Size-wise, these models are
ed colonel and a twelve-pounder cannon. Both sets will slightly on the heroic side of 28mm but otherwise compat-
be ideal for Epic: Waterloo players and those who prefer ible. These will be ideal for Byzantine Emperors and gen-
smaller 15mm miniatures. Given the number of figures erals everywhere, but they will also be of use for players
provided, these sets do give good value for money. seeking heavily armoured Norsemen.

Road mats
Company: Geek Villain
Size: Scaled for 28mm
Era: Any (depending on road)
Price: £45.00 for approx. 183 cm
22 ft of road
350 mm
www.geekvillain.co.uk

I’ve been considering making my own roads for some time,
then Geek Villain released its fabric roads. A fellow war-
gamer sang their praises to me, mentioning they were non-
slip. They neatly follow any bumps and dips on the mat. The
roads come as a 6'x4' sheet with various straight roads, cor-
ners, Y junctions, and T junctions. Simply cut out the road
shapes and you’ll have enough for 6.8 m or 22 feet of road.
I decided to cut the roads closely, removing the optional
verges. I was pleased to note that this helped them blend
convincingly with the terrain mat they were placed on. The
pieces remained perfectly in place throughout play and, be-
cause they are flat, didn’t introduce an unnatural level of el-
evation. Furthermore, as they lie flat, they couldn’t be easier
to transport and store – I am a thorough convert.

10 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119

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Empress Miniatures has ¡Legionarios a luchar! ¡Le-

Thirty Years’ War Cavalry taken over the Thirty Years’ Spanish Legion gionariosa morir! The Span-
Company: Empress Miniatures War line made by Bohe- machine gun ish Legion was founded in
Size: 28mm ‘foot to eye’ or 31mm mian Miniatures. These Company: Baraka Miniatures 1920 for the Spanish army
tall, cavalry stand 45mm tall miniatures were sculpted Size: 28mm ‘foot to eye’ in Africa to fight in the Rif
Era: Thirty Years’ War by Paul Hicks and com- or 31mm tall War (1921–1926). Mod-
Price: £1.75 per rider, plement the Empress ECW Era: Interwar (Rif War 1921–1926) elled on the French Foreign
£3.00 per horse Price: €12.00 for the machine
range and the ‘Spanish Legion, the Tercio de Ex-
gun and crew
www.empressminiatures.com Tercio’ range from 1898 tranjeros (Tercio of Foreign-
Miniaturas, which they www.barakagm.com ers) fought throughout the
stock. The original range war until the eventual Span-
only consisted of infantry, ish victory against the native
but Empress has added cavalry and artillery to complete Berber tribesmen. The current range consists of infantry (in
it. Reviewed here are two of the seventeen different side cap or hat), command (including a pack for Lieuten-
horsemen in the range – there are five cuirassiers, sev- ant Colonel Valenzuela), and support (LMG, Hotchkiss ma-
en cavalry, three mounted harquebusiers, a musician, chine gun, and grenades). The miniatures were developed
and a mounted general. Horses are bought separately; as 3D sculpts, but the metal casts have excellent detail and
there are ten in total, ranging from standing to charging no mould lines whatsoever. The gun and crew assembly was
and rearing. Any horse will fit any rider from the range. very easy – I wish all guns assembled this easily! This excel-
Overall, the sculpts are excellent and they are mid-sized lent range will be useful for the Rif War and also could be
for 28mm, so they will be compatible with most existing stretched to the Spanish Civil War, where the Spanish Legion
ECW and TYW ranges. This new release will be a boon fought with Franco’s Nationalists. The Rifeños (Rif Berbers)
to Pike and Shotte era players, giving some very useful are now available (including cavalry), and a 75mm Schnei-
models suitable for several armies of the period. der field gun will be released soon.

French Chasseurs D’Afrique

Company: Perry Miniatures
Size: 28.5mm ‘foot to eye’ or
34mm in cap; 48mm in saddle
Era: Franco-Prussian War
(Victorian era)
Price: £9.00 for three cavalry
www.perry-miniatures.com

The latest release from the Perrys for the French–Prussian
Wars is the Chasseurs D’Afrique. Raised from colonial French
in Algeria, the Chasseurs D’Afrique served with distinction
both in the Crimea (securing the flank of the famous Light
Brigade charge) and in Mexico. In 1870, all four regiments
served in France, taking heavy casualties at Sedan in 1870.
Despite the losses, reserves were called in, forming two regi-
ments, which fought to the end of the war. There are three
sets of Chasseurs D’Afrique: one of command, one charging,
and a third set with swords drawn. The quality is excellent,
as you’d expect from the Perrys. Size-wise these are a tad
(0.5mm) larger than the standard 28mm ranges. This is the
first French cavalry release and as such will be a must for any
French 1870 commander. Vive Emperor Napoleon III!

Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 11

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Agema Miniatures has White Dragon Miniatures

Ancient Etruscans released a comprehen- Ultramodern soldiers specializes in a range of
Company: Agema Miniatures sive range of Etruscans in Company: White Dragon Miniatures ultramodern miniatures. A
Size: 28mm ‘foot to eye’ or 28mm. The Etruscans were Size: 20mms = 22mm ‘foot to eye’ unique feature of the range
35mm to top of helme an Italian people who or 25mm tall; 28mms = 29mm is that they are available
Era: Ancient (founding of Rome) challenged the emerging ‘foot to eye’ or 33mm talll in either 28mm or 20mm.
Price: £12.00 for six infantry or city of Rome for the domi- Era: Modern Each model can be built
£7.00 for three command Price: £7.00 for four
nation of the Italian Penin- with a choice of three differ-
miniatures (20mm)
www.agemaminiatures.co.uk sula. They were eventually ent types of head gear. Cur-
defeated and assimilated www.whitedragonminiatures.co.uk rently, White Dragon has
into the Roman Republic British (ten infantry packs
after two-and-a-half cen- plus three vehicles), Tali-
turies of warfare. The range is impressive, with 26 packs. ban (eight packs plus two bikes), Israeli Defence Force (five
The core of the army is covered by elite warriors, house- packs), and a new range of Russians (booo!). We have cho-
hold warriors, peasant hoplites, skirmishers (with javelin sen to review the 20mm samples we were sent to show the
or sling), Etruscan cavalry, and a king in a chariot. The quality; the 28mm ones are identical, just bigger! The models
range also has several supplemental packs, including a are very well detailed 3D sculpts and cast in a flexible resin.
Lembos galley, ship’s crew, and vignettes (such as the I could not spot any mould lines nor any striation; the only
haruspex and prisoners being sacrificed). The models are cleaning up was on the bases. The equipment is accurately
well sculpted and cast; size-wise they will be compatible sculpted; these are beautiful minis. ‘Slotta’ bases are pro-
with most existing ranges. There is a card set for Mortal vided as standard. Size-wise, these are slightly on the heroic
Gods available for the Etruscans. This is an excellent and side and are a little chunky (which is fine with me), but they
useful range of miniatures; Allen Curtis would be proud. should fit in with most existing ranges. Recommended.

Sven Hassel miniatures 45

40
Company:
Size:

Era: World War II

Price:

The latest release from Offensive Miniatures is a Sven
Hassel character set. For those not familiar with the Has-
sel books nor the film The Misfit Brigade (1987), they fea-
ture the exploits of Sven and his comrades in the 27th (Pe-
nal) Panzer Regiment. The full set, comprising eight metal
28mm figures representing the most well-known charac-
ters from the book series, includes Wolfgang Creutzfeldt
aka Tiny (in bowler), Willie Beier the Old Man, Sven
himself (in Russian cap), Alfred Kalb (the Legionnaire),
Barcelona Blom, Gregor Martin, Julius Heide, and Jo-
seph Porta (in top hat). The models have excellent detail
and look as they are described in the fourteen books.
They differ in size to show the individual characters, so
young Sven is deliberately smaller than his two larger
compatriots. This set is ideal for those wanting to recreate
the exploits of the 27th (Penal) Panzer Regiment or who
fancy something quite different in a German squad! Just
remember to paint Porta’s top hat yellow!

12 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119

 THIS GAMING LIFE
COLUMN

a
arm

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION

ie H
© Georg

We’ll be well into 2022 by the time this reaches print, but I write in
early January so I’m going to begin with my New Year’s resolution. I
managed to hold to last year’s promise to myself – namely never to
look at any news story that features the word ‘stunning’ in the head-
line – so I have high hopes for the coming year. My promise for 2022
is to spend less time stripping old toy soldiers and more time paint-
ing. Last year saw the deployment of gallons of Dettol and the steady
accumulation of boxes full of gleaming metal. Most of this dated back
to the days when flares were the thing and all the talk was of join-
By Rick Priestley ing the so-called Common Market. Where would it all end, I ask you?

A
nyway, ‘paint more than you un-paint’
is the mantra for this year, and so far I’m
bang on target because I’ve painted the
odd model and stripped naff all. Early
days yet though. Next step, get some
full-sized units up and ready for action. Not that
my armies have seen much activity this last cou-
ple of years thanks to the constraints of conta-
gion. Another thing to put right. Maybe that one
will have to wait for next year.
The good news on the gaming front is that another
campaign is being plotted even at this moment: a
further visit to the heartlands of Europe in the age
of Napoleon circa 1813 … Huzzah! Campaigns
are the spur to at least half of the games I take
part in, the other half comprising visits by friends
followed by an impromptu gathering of the clans
and the hugest wargame that can be mustered. Al-
though campaign games do sometimes result in
one-on-one encounters, far more usually, battles
of all kinds are fought with two or three players
a side. Regardless of how many players are in-
volved, what all games have in common is that
they are organized by and fought under the watch-
ful eye of an impartial host, umpire, or referee.
That games are put on and run by somebody is
something that I’m so accustomed to it is pretty
much taken for granted that this is how all games
are played. At least ideally so, even if things don’t
always pan out that way for reasons of practical-
ity. It came as a surprise to be reminded by a re-
cent correspondent that many not only forego the
services of the blessed Master of Ceremonies but
remain strangely unaware that games can thus
progress. How odd. I know old hands will be
thinking, “C’mon Priestley, this is but bread-and-
butter stuff,” and I would have to agree and apolo-
gize to those who spurn army lists, eschew points
values, and consider a game complete once all
are satisfied that it is so. Yet I fear we are an endan-
gered species. Or at least an unfashionable one.
The alternative, of course, is that two opponents
act out a prescribed scenario to an agreed set of
rules, selecting their forces to an equal value using
‘points’ and some kind of army list. So ingrained is
this concept that even yours truly feels obliged to
put together army lists so that people can play the
games I’ve designed – games for which I would
rarely use points values or army lists myself. Many
players think of army lists as an inherent part of
a game. Some would say the primary purpose
of army lists is to ensure ‘balance’, to make sure
that games are fair and both players stand an
equal chance of victory. Before we mutter “Fid-
dlesticks”, “Kids today”, and “Get off my lawn”
comes the moment to insert the necessary caveat.
Wargames tournaments and formal competitions
rely on army lists and points values, and in that
sense they strait-jacket the whole idea of a war-
game into the same space occupied by chess and
other competitive two-player games. That’s fine.
It’s one kind of wargame. I’ve played many games
on that basis, and when it comes to organizing
national or international get-togethers, hosting
inter-club events, or facilitating pick-up games at
club level, it’s probably the only realistic option.
So, let’s not knock that style of play, which suits
many people perfectly well – possibly most peo-
ple most of the time.
But there are other ways to play a wargame. A
game organized and run by a non-playing host
is a different thing entirely, and it is at least as
venerable a method of conducting a wargame.

16 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119

It is probably the ‘original’ way if we admit the
free-flowing military Kriegsspiels of the nineteenth
century into our ranks. The key difference is that,
even before the game begins, some selfless indi-
vidual takes on the responsibility for coming up
with a scenario, determining the forces involved,
and then arranging the game. Usually, the person
that arranges everything also hosts the game, pro-
viding the table and terrain, setting everything up,
preparing any paperwork that might be needed,
and getting in the beer. It’s not strictly necessary
that the same person hosts the game as runs eve-
rything, although it is necessary to get in the beer.
How might this pan out? If you’re going to run any
kind of wargame there is no better source of inspi-
ration than actual warfare, and it is with some ac-
count of a battle or description of a real encounter
that the seed of an idea usually takes root. Often,
at least half the story is of how opposing forma-
tions arrive at the scene of battle and to what ex-
tent their deployment is planned or forced by cir-
cumstance. Typically the idea for the battle will be
drawn from our host’s reading, and therein lies the
key to these kinds of games. If you are a student of
military history as much as a wargamer, then the
scene is already set for you. Whilst some battles
lend themselves well to a tabletop re-enactment
without too much trouble, others must be scaled
to fit the space, or sometimes a game can be based
upon a single action during a larger battle. In other
cases, the broad situation can be adapted, perhaps
reflecting uncertainties at the time rather than the
literal turn of events.
Having decided upon the game you are going
to fight, the most important thing is to lay out
the terrain and craft your battlefield to reflect the
tactical challenges posed during the battle itself.
This is perhaps the most important aspect of put-
ting on a game and one that bears a little expla-
nation. If, for example, part of the action turns
upon the defence of a bridge – such as Burnside’s
Bridge at Antietam – then consideration must be
given to how easy it is for the attacking force to
reach and take the position in terms of the rules
you are using. It’s no use asking a player to spend
innumerable turns advancing under artillery fire
towards an objective that the rules make virtually
impregnable. Rather than slavishly create the cir-
cumstance of the actual battle, it is important to
think in terms of the number of turns it might take
to traverse an area, how long units will spend
within range of enemy guns, and whether ob-
scuring terrain might afford shelter to advancing
– or counter-attacking – forces.
In a map-driven campaign game the position will
usually suggest the layout, whether the forces
meet outside a town, at a river crossing, or per-
haps where a number of roads meet. This last is
quite common in campaigns because players will
always attempt to converge forces in order to meet
the enemy with as large an army as possible. This
kind of thing gives the host the opportunity to
bring forces into play at different times and posi-
tions, staggering the arrival of converging brigades
and forcing one side or another to the attack be-
fore their opponents can be reinforced. It is usual
to introduce a random element into such things
to reflect what would be unknowable in real life.
When will Blücher arrive with those Prussians?
In practice, it is wise not to string things out to the
point where a player, having turned up to play a
wargame, spends all evening waiting to take part
only to do so in the dying moments as his allies
flee the field. Our usual routine is to have an out-
side chance of a reinforcement turning up in the
first possible turn, a 50–50 chance in the next turn,
and then automatically on the turn after. In a cam-
paign game – and often in a recreation of an ac-
tual battle – a force might have the option of force
marching and arriving a turn or two earlier, but
at the risk of doing so in some disarray. Will you
press forward hastily with your cavalry and march
your exhausted battalions to the sound of the guns
whilst abandoning your artillery train on the road?
All these things will suggest a narrative that will
help to frame even a fictional scenario. All can be
allowed for by the person running the game.
As well as setting up the table together with any
scenery required, there is the matter of the rival
forces. Now, here I must confess that both I and
my usual opponents have been wargaming for
most of our lives and have used the decades as
wisely as any wargamer can to build collections
of some size and breadth. When any of us put on
a wargame set in our favourite era, we can provide
all the forces needed and only rarely will addition-
al troops be required. However, it is not necessary
that the host has entire and opposing armies, only
that players can collectively provide all the troops
needed. The disadvantage here is that players who
are asked to provide troops will then know that
those troops are going to make an appearance. A
cunning host may ask for some units that he knows
will not appear, which certainly keeps players on
their toes waiting for ‘those reinforcements’.
Mention of players brings me to that most vital
of elements in any wargame – namely the war-
gamers themselves. Alas, whilst many words
may be spilled upon that subject, we shall have
to await another occasion as the bottom of the
page hoves into view bringing this portion of our
voyage to an end. Next time we shall look at the
contributions of players and the art of refereeing
the games we host. WS&S
Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 17
 NORMAN AND WELSH FORCES SKIRMISH AT OGMORE
FEATURE

MARCHER LORD
In the years following the Norman Conquest, the brutal strug-
gle to tame England intensified. Successive rebellions and the
Norman campaign that followed, the Harrying of the North, laid
waste to the north of England. A recent estimate states that
100,000 people died by direct slaughter and collateral starvation.
Even William on his deathbed was appalled at what he had done.

By Jonathan Jones

O
n the borders of Wales, King
William created three March-
es as a barrier against the raid-
ing Welsh. At Chester, Shrews-
bury, and Hereford these
powerful Marcher Lords, all close to
William, established themselves. Am-
bitious Norman adventurers respond-
ed directly to the call of the Marcher
Lords and looked westwards into the
badlands of Wales to gain territory.
The borderlands of Wales were dan-
gerous areas. Although Wales was
rarely unified as one nation, its con-
stituent kingdoms could field deadly
forces, especially in alliance under
charismatic leaders.
Norman and Saxon ad-
venturers sought to carve
out a section of Welsh territory
under the aegis of a Norman
overlord. The building of a the
motte and bailey fort was a first
step. If the local Welsh could be
held off long enough to build
a stone castle and consolidate
their reign, they stood a chance of be-
coming the local lord. The castle of
Ogmore, by the banks of the beautiful
Ogmore River in Glamorgan, is an ex-
cellent example of such a fortification.
The manor and castle were given to
William de Londres after 1106.
It is likely that de Londres would not
have had more than 50 or so men
under his command as he sought
to consolidate his castle and ter-
ritory. Some would have been
armed in conventional Norman
knight style. Along with the
horsemen would be a
group of swordsmen
on foot and both
Joab killing Absalom, as depicted in the late
x
mailed and unmailed spear-
men. A contingent of archers
with short bows or a few cross-
bows would make up the balance of
the force: enough to hold the walls of
the castle and rule the countryfolk.
BATTLE ON THE RIVER OGMORE
Our scenario takes place as de Londres
sets out with his retinue along the Og-
more on a foray to seek taxes from the
local peasants or take cattle in lieu, and
to generally remind the Welsh who is
‘boss’. A servant girl in the castle has
warned the local Welsh chieftain of the
expedition, and he plans an ambush.
The Normans spot a group of armed
horsemen on a distant hill and de-
cide to cross the river and give chase.
In doing so, they pass close by three
groups of woods, from which emerge
Welsh archers accompanied by spear-
men and swordsmen – an ambush!
Surprise gives the Welsh a chance to
whittle down the Normans with their
bows before delivering a swift, deadly
charge. The Norman lord decides to
try to fight through the ambush while
the small force of Welsh cavalry on
the hill wait for the chance to charge.
Norman crossbowmen vie with their
Welsh counterparts for supremacy.

twelfth-century Winchester Bible. This book

18 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 considered to contain some of the best English
painting executed during this period.
is

© The Pierpont Morgan Library MS M.619


The Normans attempt to fight their way out of the Welsh ambush. Figures by Footsore Miniatures.
The Norman force is divided by the
river. Can the Welsh finish their attack
before the Normans can recover?
A Norman win would be to succeed in
engaging the Welsh at close quarters,
inflict heavy casualties, and drive them
off. A Welsh success is to inflict heavy
casualties, especially on the Norman
horse, and discourage them from risk-
ing their lives further into Wales.
Gaming the battle
I designed this scenario with forces
for SAGA and Barons’ War rules and
on a four-foot by four-foot mat. The
river is shallow at this point and
should be passable but will slow
movement. The Welsh have the ad-
vantage of the first turn.
The forces
My initial list was built for SAGA:
Age of Vikings and is as follows:
The Welsh have the following forces:
• Mounted commander
• 4 Hearthguard cavalry
• 3 units of eight foot warriors
with spears and javelins
• 2 units of twelve levy
archers with bows.
The Normans forces consist of:
• Mounted commander
• 8 mounted knights (Hearthguard)
• 3 units of 8 warriors; two with
spears and one with swords
• 1 unit of eight crossbows on foot
• 1 unit of twelve levy archers
on foot.
Using Barons’ War rules
I’ve used the Conquest supplement
for Barons Wars. No lists exist for the
Welsh (yet), but I expect some will be
Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119
coming soon. Here’s some sug-
gestions in the meantime.
• Welsh commander – local
knowledge – treat as an
eorl (page 32)
• Welsh archers – crack
shot – treat as bowmen
(page 37)
• Welsh spearmen – agile – treat
as fyrd (page 36)
• Welsh cavalry – ponies, evade –
treat as mounted scouts (page 39).
Using Lion Rampant rules
I’ve allowed a few changes to the
standard Lion Rampant lists. The as-
terisk * symbol indicates which unit
contains the leader.
The Welsh warband should be:
• 1x expert mounted yeomen
with javelins @ 5 points
• 1x foot serjeants* with javelins
@ 5 points
• 1x foot yeomen with javelins
@ 4 points
• 2x archers @ 8 points
• 1x bidowers @ 2 points.
The Norman forces can be:
• 2x Norman knights (mounted
men-at-arms)* @ 10 points
• 2x foot serjeants @ 8 points
• 1 x crossbows @ 4 points
• 1 x bidowers @ 2 points.
Note: the Norman knights have ar-
mour 3 and I have downgraded their
cost by one point to reflect that. WS&S
© Rocío Espin
19
 MARIUS AT THE BATTLE OF AQUAE SEXTIAE, 102 BC
FEATURE

IN SUCH A WAY THE

FIELDS ARE FATTENED
Two very large Germanic tribes, the Teutones and the Cimbri, caused
the Romans a considerable amount of fear at the end of the sec-
ond century BC. Rome’s first encounter with these tribes occurred
-

By Mark Backhouse

T
he Romans continued to send
armies out to face the Teutones
and Cimbri, but each was de-
feated in turn, one more dis-
astrous than the other. Rome
was fortunate in that, after a punish-
ing defeat in 105BC, the tribes headed
westwards into Gaul and northern
Spain before heading back in the di-
rection of the wealthy and fertile lands
of northern Italy once more.
To solve the threat from the Northmen,
an experienced general was needed.
Breaking with traditional precedent,
the senate re-elected their victorious
commander in North Africa, Gaius
Marius, as consul. This was normally
a position to be held for a
single year, but the senate
allowed Marius to keep be-
ing re-elected until the threat
was dealt with. Marius had just
brought the Jugurthine Wars to a suc-
cessful end, and he set about preparing
his army for the confrontation with the
tribes. He is traditionally credited with
introducing a number of reforms to the
army, such as accepting poor recruits
who did not qualify for service before,
and a changes to the organization of
the army. The latter is said to have in-
cluded the change from maniples to
cohorts and the unification of troop
types, with every legionary fighting
the same way, and the
disbandment of the
velites. This idea has
been challenged re-
cently to such a degree
that the 'Marian Reforms' are probably
a modern mirage (see Ancient Warfare
XV.4). Nonetheless, Marius energeti-
cally took to readying his troops. He
was fortunate in having several years to
prepare his army for their first big test.
By 102 BC he seems to have raised and
trained six legions and gathered allies
and auxiliaries, including many Ligu-
rian tribesmen, to swell his numbers.
When one of the tribal groups, the Teu-
tones, and their allies started to head
back in the direction of Italy, the Ro-
mans were ready for them. Intercept-
ing them in southern Gaul, Marius
constructed a well-fortified camp on
the crest of a hill with plentiful supplies
and goaded the Teutones into attack-
ing. He refused to accept the Teutones’
attempts to get the Romans to abandon
their advantageous position, and he
mocked the Germanic attempt to chal-
lenge Marius himself to single combat
by sending out an old gladiator to face
the Germans instead. Repeated attacks
on the Roman camp failed to make
headway, and the Teutones retreated to
plunder Massilia (Marseilles) instead.
The Roman legions managed to defeat the
x

20 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 Cimbri at Vercellae in 101 BC. Illustra-
tion from Ancient Warfare V.1.
© Igor Dzis

Hidden Roman cohorts charge from the woods to envelop the Teutone lines and turn the battle.
The Romans followed the tribes at a
distance, and the tribal host seemed
to become widely spread out as they
moved, making them more vulnerable.
At Aquae Sextiae the Romans built a
camp on top of a hill overlooking the
springs where the Ambrones had built
their camp. This tribe had allied with
the Teutones and allegedly numbered
around 30,000 warriors. A skirmish
started between the Roman slaves sent
to collect water and the Ambrones,
who used the warm springs to bathe
in after a long day of marching. The
Romans quickly armed and went to
the aid of their slaves, and the skir-
mish developed into a larger battle.
The Ambrones formed a fierce battle
line chanting a war cry of “Ambrones!
Ambrones!” They were met by Marius’
Ligurian auxiliaries, who allegedly
bore a similar cultural heritage and
therefore matched them with their
own chants of exactly the same name!
A ferocious battle then ensued and the
Ambrones were soundly beaten.
While the victory over the Ambrones
helped to rebuild the confidence of the
Roman forces, the bulk of the Teutones
were still active and converged on Aq-
uae Sextiae to con-
front the Romans
again. A couple of days later, a second
battle occurred. The Teutones gath-
ered their entire war host along with
the remains of the Ambrones eager for
revenge. The Romans deployed their
main battle line on a strong hilltop po-
sition, and the overconfident Germanic
tribes enthusiastically engaged them,
led by their king, Teutobod. Charging
uphill, they were met with a stinging
volley of pilums from the legionaries,
who then charged into the disordered
Germanic ranks. The fighting was es-
pecially fierce, but the legionaries had
been toughened by their rigorous train-
ing regime. Once both the main lines
Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119
were thoroughly engaged, Marius
pulled off his masterstroke, re-
vealing 3000 legionaries who
had concealed themselves
in a wood on the flank of
the tribesmen. The closely
fought battle then flipped
into a slaughter, the Teutones
panicking as they were engaged in the
rear. The Germanic losses were im-
mense, and while the Roman sources
probably greatly exaggerated the exact
numbers, the huge number of deaths
were meant to have provided fertilizer
for the land around the battlefield “in
such a way that the fields are fattened”.
GAMING AQUAE SEXTIAE
Aquae Sextiae is probably best
gamed as two separate battles: the
fight against the Ambrones on the
first day, and the main battle against
the Teutones a few days later.
The terrain
The battle was fought on what seems
to have been fairly open grass- and
farmland. The main feature of it was
a large hill, big enough for the Roman
force of six legions plus their allies
to form up on. On the plain below,
two other key features need to be in-
cluded: the hot springs and stream
near the initial Ambrones camp, and
the wood on the flank of the Teutones
that provided the hiding place for the
Roman ambush in the second battle.
Quite how these terrain features fitted
into the battlefield is uncertain, and
whilst we have attempted to recon-
struct a plausible battlefield for the
© Rocío Espin
21

map with this article, a
degree of creativity can be used, as
the exact site is still hotly debated.
The forces
In both battles, the Roman force was
made up of six legions that must have
been close to full strength. Adding
their auxiliaries, this probably rose to
around 35–40,000 troops. The Am-
brones are said to have had about
30,000 troops in the first
battle. In the second
battle, the Teutones may
have numbered as many
as 100,000 if Plutarch is to be
believed, although I suspect the num-
ber of combatants was probably sig-
nificantly lower. Either way, they very
likely had a significant numerical ad-
vantage over the Romans.
I have provided a suggested army
list for both forces using my own
Strength and Honour rules. I suspect
most gamers will be able to easily
covert these to their favourite big bat-
tle set of rules of their choice. Simply
convert each unit into the equivalent
in your rules or try to maintain a sim-
ilar ratio of different troops.
SCENARIO 1 – The
battle with the Ambrones
In the first battle, the skirmish between
water collectors at the river escalates.
The Romans start with three Command
Points and two Generalship Points,
along with one unit of skirmishers, the
Ligurian warband, and the fortified
camp. They may then spend up to 30
points on additional units from their
original list that have not already been

ORDER OF BATTLE
Roman forces – led by Marius (Command 3, Generalship 2) Army break point: 18 (86 points)
Unit Movement (M) Combat (C) Manoeuvre (MR) Discipline (D) Characteristics Point
Legio III, IV, and V D6 4 4+ 6+ Battle trained; Drilled 9 each (27)
Experienced Roman legions

Legio VI D6 3 5+ 7+ Battle trained 6

Raw Roman legion

Legio I and II D6 4 3+ 5+ Battle trained; 11 each (22)

Veteran Roman legions Drilled

Ligurian allied auxiliaries D6 3 4+ 7+ Warband 5

2 x javelin- and sling-armed D6+1 2/2 2+ 8+ Skirmishers; 4 each (8)

skirmishers Ranged attack*1

Cavalry D6+2 4 2+ 7+ Cavalry 9

Fortified camp NA 3 NA 7+ Immobile; 3

Fortified baggage

Ambrones forces in Scenario 1 – led by the king of the Ambrones (Command 2, Generalship 1) Army break point: 14 (41 points)
Unit Movement (M) Combat (C) Manoeuvre (MR) Discipline (D) Characteristics Point
Veteran Ambrones bodyguard D6 4 3+ 6 Warband 8

Ambrones warbands x 4 D6 3 4+ 7 Warband 5 each (20)

Javelin- and sling-armed D6+1 2/2 2+ 8 Skirmishers; 4

skirmishers Ranged attack*1

Ambrones baggage camp NA 3 NA 7 Immobile; Free

Baggage

Teutones force in Scenario 2 – led by Teutobod (Command 2, Generalship 1) Army break point: 17* (50 points)
Unit Movement (M) Combat (C) Manoeuvre (MR) Discipline (D) Characteristics Point
Veteran Teutone bodyguard D6 4 3+ 6 Warband 8

Teutone stubborn warbands x2 D6 3 4+ 6 Warband 7 each (14)

Teutone warbands X3 D6 3 4+ 7 Warband 5 each (15)

Javelin- and sling- armed D6+1 2/2 2+ 8 Skirmishers; 4

skirmishers Ranged attack*1

Teutone cavalry D6+2 4 2+ 7 Cavalry 9

Baggage camp NA 3 NA 7 Immobile, Baggage Free

22 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119

taken. Depending on what units are
chosen, the Roman Army break point
will be modified from the one given in
the main list. The Ambrones start with
their full force.

The Ambrones must first deploy

their skirmishers within their de-
ployment area A. All other units in-
cluding the baggage camp must be
deployed in Ambrones deployment
area B behind the stream. This
breaks with normal deployment
conventions in Strength and Hon-
our and no Strategy points need to
be expended to do this.

The Roman skirmishers must first de-

The right moment has come to signal the advance and the legions crash down the hillside into the Teutones.
ploy in Roman deployment area A.
The rest of the Roman force deploys
from Roman deployment area B on
the large hill in the same way as for
the Ambrones.

The battle is played until one side

breaks. After the battle is over, use
the post-battle campaign system
for any units that have been forced
to withdraw from the battlefield. If
you are using a different system to
Strength and Honour, roll 1D6 for
any unit that routed or was forced to
retreat from the battlefield, with +1
to the roll if they were on the win-
ning side. On a roll of 6+, the unit
has recovered in time to fight in
the next battle. In addition,
any unit on the losing side in
the battle must also roll 1D6
to see if they can partake
in the second battle. On
a roll of 3+ they may.
run for their money, es- CONCLUSIONS
All Command and Gen- pecially if they were vic- In the historic battle, the Teutones
eralship Points expended torious in the first battle. were broken and Teutobod was ei-
in the first battle are assumed
ther killed in the ambush or captured
to be recovered. Special rule: Ambush – The Roman and killed soon after. Marius then
player may opt to place one infan- had to fight the Cimbri the following
SCENARIO 2 – The try unit in an ambush in one of the year at Vercellae.
battle with the Teutones wooded areas on ONE of the flanks.
In the second battle, the remains of This can be hidden from view in the Will you fatten the fields with the blood
the Ambrones army join with the of your enemies and rise victorious to
deployment phase. This is only men-
Teutones. The battle is fought on the save Rome? Or will Marius’ name fall
tioned in Plutarch’s account of the
main plain with standard deploy- into ignominy like the commanders
battle and is ignored in other sourc-
ment rules for a pitched battle. The
es, so feel free to ignore this if you who lost at Arausio, with the Germans
Teutones and Ambrones potentially
feel it will unbalance the scenario. being allowed a free passage into Italy?
have a very large and powerful
Let us know how you get on as Marius
force that should give
Victory for the campaign goes to who- or Teutobod; we’d love to hear about
the Romans a real
ever manages to break the other army. your refights. WS&S

Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 23

 LIEUTENANT SPEIRS AND D COMPANY, 506TH PIR
FEATURE

ISOLATED AT
BLOODY GULCH
On 13 June 1944, the 501st and 506th Parachute Infantry Regi-
ments of the 101st Airborne Division were attacking southwest
of the strategically vital town of Carentan, seeking to expand
their defensive perimeter. Unknown to them, these actions
would coincide with a counterattack by remnants of the 6th
Fallschirmjäger Regiment, reinforced by StuG III assault guns
and soldiers from 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division. These
clashes would become known as the Battle of Bloody Gulch.

By Joe Bilton

A
fter days of tough fight-
ing since D-Day, the 101st
Airborne Division had suc-
ceeded in occupying the
high ground to the north
of Carentan by 11 June, and they
spent the next day moving down and
around the town to secure it.
In the afternoon of 12 June, orders
were issued for the 501st and 506th
Parachute Infantry Regiments to at-
tack south and west from Carentan.
24
The 506th PIR moved out towards the
town of Baupte on this ambitious plan,
despite already being very under-
strength from losses since D-Day.
The advance soon ran into Ger-
man defences and became heav-
ily engaged across the front.
Eventually the order came to
pull back and consolidate for
the night. A confusing night en-
sued and at one point a patrol that
was thought to be friendly turned out
to be Germans. They attacked the
battalion command post before
being fought off.
The company commanders
received their orders for the
following day’s attack. It was
decided that 2nd Platoon, D
Company, 506th PIR, com-
manded by Lieutenant Ron-
ald Speirs, would capture the
farmhouse where the German
patrol had first been seen in or-
der to secure the flank.
The next morning, the farmhouse was
targeted by the 506th’s 81  mm mor-
tar platoon. They fired a heavy con-
Paratroopers from the 101st and 82nd
x
centration of rounds, destroying
the roofs and setting the main
house on fire, and 2nd Pla-
toon then moved down to-
wards the farm through the or-
chards that bordered it. This platoon
had taken significant losses since D-
Day, resulting in it not being much
larger than a squad, and they took an-
other casualty as they crossed to the
farm when a German heavy mortar
concentration struck them.
The platoon reached the waist-high
wall surrounding the farm and jumped
over into the courtyard. It was empty,
but looking back, Lt Speirs saw Ger-
man soldiers in the orchard they had
just left. Hastily setting up a defence,
2nd Platoon prepared to defend the
farm from a German counterattack that
happened to coincide with the Ameri-
can attack. Isolated from the rest of the
American forces and dangerously un-
derstrength, it would not be easy.

Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 Airborne Divisions faced stiff opposi-
tion after landing in Normandy.
© Public domain
 US paratroopers take up firing positions along the wall, ready to fend off an attack by their German counterparts.

Inspiration from historical reports
In 1948, Speirs, now a captain, wrote
a report about the action as part of
an advanced infantry officers’ train-
ing course. He included a great num-
ber of details in this report as well as
a series of maps showing the general
Bloody Gulch battle and also the ac-
THE SCENARIO
This scenario focuses on the action
that took place in and around the
walled farm where 2nd Platoon, D
Company, commanded by the fa-
mous Lt. Speirs, became isolated. The
Battle of Bloody Gulch is a large and
confusing battle, so I saw the appeal
of a small, highly personal action tak-
ing place within this larger event.
The scenario has been designed with
Chain of Command in mind but can
easily be adapted to other platoon-
© Rocío Espin

tion around the farm. It was reading

this report that inspired me to cre-
ate this scenario. The maps had been
drawn four years after the battle, but
by comparing them to aerial photo-
graphs of the area (both 1944 and
modern satellite images) and overlay-
ing them using photo-editing software,
it was possible to determine the exact
battlefield. Captain Speirs had actually
remembered the layout of field bound-
aries very well and these still precisely
matched the existing hedge-
rows. The relative positions of
the railway, roads, and bridges
also allowed a confident identifica-
tion of the battlefield.

Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 25

scaled rule sets such as Bolt Action
or Battlegroup. One concept will
need clarification. In Chain of Com-
mand, the standard integer of game-
play is a ‘phase’ (roughly equivalent
to a ‘turn’ in Bolt Action. A ‘Turn’ in
Chain of Command represents a sig-
nificant lull in the fighting, usually
after several phases. If playing this
scenario with Bolt Action, consider
six turns to be equivalent to one
‘Turn’ in Chain of Command.
Set up
The scenario is best played on a 6'x4'
table and has been scaled for 28mm
miniatures, although you can adjust
if you play using a smaller scale. If
you do, keep the farm at the centre
of the table and extend the areas of
orchards, fields, and hedgerows to-
wards the table edges.
Unlike most games of Chain of Com-
mand, which begin with a patrol phase
where ‘jump-off points’ (JOP) are de-
termined, this scenario begins with

AMERICAN FORCES
The Americans begin with 2nd
Platoon, D Company already on
the table. This platoon must deploy
from the JOP in the walled farm and is
the only unit that can deploy from
that JOP until the end of the second
‘Turn’. The American player can de-
ploy them up to 6" from the JOP and
may also place them on overwatch.
Other units are deployed as normal.
The platoon structure presented here is
not standard for Chain of Command. At
this point in the Normandy campaign
there had been significant losses and
disruption; 2nd Platoon was reduced in
size to the equivalent of a large squad,
and so it is treated as such below.
2nd Platoon, D Company is com-
manded by Lieutenant Speirs. If he is
killed, add 1 to the ‘Bad Things Hap-
pen’ roll to indicate the significant
impact of his loss.

Parachute infantry ‘platoon’ Elements of 2nd Platoon, E Company

Regular +1
Command dice: 5 + red dice Platoon HQ
Support points available: 12
Platoon sergeant (Senior Leader) armed with SMG
Bazooka team: two men
2nd Platoon, D Company (understrength, treat as squad)
Lieutenant Ronald Speirs (Senior Leader) armed with Squad One
SMG Sergeant (Junior Leader) armed with SMG
Assistant squad leader (Junior Leader) armed with M1 .30 cal M1919A4 machine gun team with three crew
Garand (treated as LMG)
.30 cal M1919A4 machine gun team with three crew
Rifle team: eight riflemen with M1 Garands
(treated as LMG)
Mortar Squad
Rifle team: seven men with M1 Garands and one with
a BAR (automatic rifle) 60 mm mortar with three crew

Support options Support point costs

Entrenchments for one team (cannot be used by 2nd Platoon, D Company) 1

Bazooka team: two men 2

.30 cal M1919A4 machine gun team with three crew (treated as LMG) 3
Forward observer and 81 mm mortar battery 4
57 mm anti-tank gun with five crew and a Junior Leader 5
M5 Stuart Light Tank with Junior Leader 5
Regular parachute squad: Sgt (JL), LMG team with three men, assault team with eight riflemen 6
M4 Sherman with Junior Leader 6

There was no organic armour sup-
port for the 101st Airborne Division,
although during the battle Shermans
from the 2nd Armoured Division
did eventually arrive and help push
back the counterattack. Therefore,
if a Sherman is chosen as a support
option it can only be deployed after
the first ‘Turn’ has ended (or after six
turns if playing this with Bolt Action).
This is not the case if the M5 Stuart
is taken. A platoon of M5 Stuarts had
been sent to aid the battalion the
night before and so were in the area.
The .30 cal machine guns that the
101st Airborne Division used in Nor-
mandy had been fitted with tripods
instead of bipods and reports indicat-
ed that this was entirely unsuitable
for combat in the bocage. Reflecting
this, the gun is rated as an LMG.

26 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119


fixed JOPs, although the players may
move these up to 4" in any direction.
Both players should use the core rule
sets to determine the force morale.
Both forces have access to a ‘red
dice’ for their command dice rolls.
Only rolls of 1–4 on the red dice can
be used; 5 or 6 is ignored. When mo-
rale drops to 4, the red dice is lost.
For the German player it cannot be
used on any SS units.
Terrain
Considering that this is a Normandy
table, you won’t need that much
terrain for it. The principal features
are a walled farm with three stone
buildings, some trees to represent or-
chards, and some lengths of hedge-
row for the bocage.
The stone walls surrounding the farm
are waist-high so are considered as
medium obstacles and provide hard
cover. The three farm buildings are
typical French stone structures and
count as hard cover.
The largest farm building is on fire
due to an earlier mortar barrage.
It cannot be occupied, but at
present the smoke is rising ver-
tically. At the end of a ‘Turn’,
roll a D6 dice and consult the
table at right.
Armour from 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division rumbles along to support the coming German counterattack.
The hedgerows are bocage and there- German force morale to 0 whilst
fore considered major obstacles. They keeping theirs at 3 or above.
are on a high bank of earth and take
infantry a full phase to cross. They also The German player needs to break
block LoS unless the unit is aligned di- the American line, either by reducing
rectly along the hedge. Infantry firing their force morale to 0 or by reducing
it to 3 and having at least one unit
from the bocage are considered to be
in hard cover. Fully tracked vehicles reach the eastern table edge.
consider the bocage as heavy going. If the force morale of both sides drops
The orchards to the south of the farm below 3 the battle is considered a
are considered open ground. Units are draw, with both sides withdrawing to
visible within the orchard from any reconsolidate their forces.
distance but have light cover if they are
more than 9" into the orchard. WHAT REALLY HAPPENED
2nd Platoon, isolated in the courtyard,
Objectives managed to fight off several attacks
The objective of the American player using their machine gun and inflict-
is to maintain their defensive line ed numerous casualties on the Falls-
around Carentan. They win by blunt- chirmjäger that advanced through the
ing the German counterattack whilst orchards. However, several grenades
preserving the integrity of their own were thrown into the courtyard of the
forces. They do this by reducing the farm, and this, combined with low
SMOKE TABLE
Score Result
1-2 The fire has gone out, although the ruin is too hot to occupy.
3-4 The fire continues to burn but there has been no change in the direction
of the smoke.
5 The smoke has changed direction, blowing across the battlefield. De-
termine a random direction and place 12" of smoke out from the build-
ing. The smoke blocks LoS.
6 The intensity of the fire increases. Any units within 4" of the burning
building must immediately move directly away from it.
Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 27
GERMAN FORCES
The 6th Fallschirmjäger Regiment had been mauled in the
previous fighting around Carentan and had withdrawn to
the southwest of the town. Hastily reinforced with units
from the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division, they launched
a counterattack towards Carentan at the same time as the
American attack towards Donville. The commander
of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division was relying
on the element of surprise and so had carried out no
reconnaissance, nor did he order a preliminary bombard-
ment. The result was that they were unaware of the
American movement towards them.
The German player has a Fallschirmjäger platoon as their
core unit, but they have the option to reinforce it with Panz-
ergrenadier squads and StuG III assault guns. Whilst the Fall-
schirmjäger units are rated as Regular, any assault guns or SS
Panzergrenadiers will be rated as Green to reflect their inex-
perience with bocage fighting, having just arrived in the area.
Fallschirmjäger platoon
Regular +4
Command dice: 5 + red dice for FJ units only
Support points available: 10

A platoon from 6th Fallschirmjäger Regiment

Platoon HQ

Leutnant (Senior Leader) with machine pistol

Unteroffizier (Senior Leader) with machine pistol
Panzerschreck team: two men
Three squads, each comprising:
Obergefreiter (Junior Leader) armed with machine pistol and two Panzerfausts
LMG team comprising MG 42 with two crew and two riflemen
LMG team comprising MG 42 with two crew, two riflemen, and one man with a machine pistol

Support options Support point costs

Panzerschreck team: two men 2

Sniper team 3
Sd.Kfz. 251, no weapons 3
Regular MG 42 on tripod mount, five crew 4
Regular Panzergrenadier squad with Junior Leader 5
Marder II or III with Junior Leader 6
Pak 40 with five crew and Junior Leader 7
StuG III G or StuG IV with Junior Leader (see special rule) 7
During the battle, 88 mm Flak 36 guns directed long-range Special rule: Historically, the StuG III assault guns involved
fire on American positions. To represent this off-table sup- in the fight advanced along a railway embankment to the
port, the German player can fire a single 88 mm from the north of the farm. If the German player doesn’t take a StuG
middle of the western table edge; all shots are long range III as a support option, they can instead use it as an off-
and intervening terrain will provide appropriate cover. It table support. Line of sight is from the northern table edge.
must use a Chain of Command dice in order to fire. Again, a Chain of Command dice is required to fire it.

ammunition and the heat from the
burning building, persuaded Speirs to
withdraw, using the hedgerows to the
north to regain the American line.
The rest of the American line was
also hard pressed by the strong Ger-
man counterattack and was pushed
back in several places. However, at
2  pm, Sherman tanks from 2nd Ar-
moured Division, supported by ar-
moured infantry, arrived from the in order to establish a better posi-
Omaha beach area and went into ac- tion, but they made no further at-
tion, engaging German armour. They tempts to capture Carentan and
pushed through, eventually reaching were withdrawn from the sector
the town of Baupte, which allowed soon after.
the battered Airborne regiments to
get some well-earned rest in the divi-
sional reserve.
The German units were
withdrawn towards Raffoville

28 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119

 COLLECTING AND GAMING THE EARLY TUDOR WARS
FEATURE

PIKE, BOW & LIVERY COAT

A wargamer thinking of early Tudor warfare might think of the bat-
tles of Bosworth and Flodden with very little difference in the ar-
mies. Moreover, it is commonly thought that Tudor England missed
out on European military developments. So why bother? That no-
tion has prevailed due to the lack of easily available information
and has become a self-fulfilling prophecy in Tudor Army lists. I
hope to change this notion and encourage new interest in the era.

By Stuart Mulligan

I
’ve been painting figures for the
armies and enemies of the early
Tudor state (1490-1525) for the
last 12 years and I’m nowhere
near done! There is so much more
that I want to show. I’m very much
driven by the need to demonstrate just
how modern and flexible the Tudor
armies were and the great number
and variety of engagements and the-
atres a soldier could find himself in.
The bulk of the scenarios I have used
the army for are the engagements of
the 1513 invasion of France and the
Flodden campaign along with similar
Franco/Scots campaigns in 1523-4
and various incursions in
Ireland throughout this
early period. As with
the politics and geogra-
phy of these theatres the
English armies for each
are distinctly different
from each other and
suited with specific purposes in mind.
My collection began in 2009 with the
500th anniversary of Henry VIII’s as-
cension to the throne, I was enthused
by the wealth of documentaries, books
and exhibitions which put the less well
known or discussed young Henry into
the spotlight. I created a mount-
ed command base using Wargames
Foundry Figures and things seemed
to go from there. The next accelerant
were the Perry Miniatures ranges for
the Wars of the Roses and ‘European
Armies’ which had potential for use
as early Tudors. With young Henry
complete I decided to theme the col-
lection around the 1513 invasion of
France. Henry had inherited a full war
chest and this army was seen by con-
temporaries as the finest of his reign,
no expense was spared in fielding the
best army he could muster. The Army
Royal was a truly modern army and
siege train, what’s more it was also all
in uniform, as detailed in provisions of
cloth for the coats and banners and by
a number of contemporary observers.

Therein lies the first consideration, one

of compromise. Whilst I could easily
represent the Landsknecht mercenar-
ies, heavy cavalry and artillery, the
vast bulk of the army raised from our
home shores were, at that time, simply
not sufficiently represented in 28mm.

The issue is principally that fash-

ion changed around 1500.
Men continued to wear their
own doublet and hose with a

30 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119


English supply lines advancing through the Pas de Calais in 1513. More coats, or something edible?
shirt and cloth cap, but the livery coat
of a soldier had become uniform and
had changed in appearance: typically
a pleated knee length garment, at the
very least, white in colour (cheap un-
dyed cloth) and commonly embla-
zoned with the red cross of St George.
Henry VII introduced “coat money” to
pay for the coats of militia contingents
and soldiers on campaign. Throughout
Henry VIII’s early reign coats are fre-
quently described as white and green
or white guarded/welted with green
(a green trim on the sleeves and at the
bottom). Though coat money was is-
sued there was no standardization as
to the cut and interestingly heraldic
livery badges “of our cognisaunce and
yours” were granted. Thus via their
coat, men were identifiable as subjects
of the King and in the retinue of a par-
ticular noble. Some soldiers were also
issued hose, bonnets and other items in
the liveries of their master.
Though many men turned out with
bows, bills, jacks, brigandines and sal-
lets indistinguishable from the late
15th century (or indeed, passed
down from that period) armour
was also changing. The latest mu-
nition armour was Almain Rivet,
and convert wars of the roses
figures but as described above
there are aspects that cannot be
ignored for a serious depiction.
ENTER THE PUTTY
For me, the only way I could have a
go at this was if I tried to do some-
thing about it myself, the first clumsy
forays into sculpting were made,
discarded, made, discarded ……ad
nauseum. First stumbling block well
and truly found…..so I made foot
knights, lots of foot knights and add-
ed to the Landsknechts. Something
would soon come along.
I should add that at this stage despite
building an army I still wasn’t gaming,
I had started a blog and soon found
the encouragement from comments
a pleasant by-product to keep me go-
ing in my isolated corner of the hobby.
Blogging friendships were made and I
soon met a few in person, this world
of gaming was slowly revealing itself. I
which comprised breast and back became good friends with Simon Chick
plate, usually with tassets, splints and a and long story short, my first wargame
gorget. For the head a sallet may have was with Simon as guests of Michael &
remained or just a simple skull. For no- Alan Perry which soon turned to more
bles the latest harnesses were available and with their friendship, encourage-
for those who could afford it, and for ment and advice I pressed ahead with
those who could not earlier armour the sculpting, there were no excuses,
was still in common use in this period. failure is an important part of
It’s therefore possible to selectively use the creative process.
HENRY’S ARMY ROYAL
The army of Henry VIII fielded for the invasion of France
came to about 30,000 men and consisted of:
• 10,000 archers
• 3500 billmen
• 1000 ‘Marispikes’, pikemen
• 1000 King’s spears, heavy cavalry
• 600 Yeomen gunners, arquebusiers
• 2500 demilancers
• An unclear number of mounted archers
• 500 border horsemen
Maximilian I added 2000 Landsknechts, 6000 Swiss and 3000 Burgundian
Horsemen, all paid for by Henry.
The totals for gunners and labourers are unclear, but the army contained an
eye-watering number of guns:
6 Heavy Bombards
12 ‘Apostles’ 6 Grand culverins of unusual magnitude and 6 lighter
field pieces each cast in the image of an apostle.
• 162 other guns, around 54 per ward including heavy Nuremberg Piec-
es and curtows and lighter culverins, falcons and falconets
• 120 Organ Guns with carriages, forty for each of the three wards
Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 31

Demilancers under command of Sir Rees ap Thomas clash with French Gendarmes outside Therouanne in 1513.
Sir Edward Poynings and other knights of the English contingent sent to besiege the city of Venlo in 1511.
Soon enough I became a master at
sculpting coats, just coats and noth-
ing else, but possibilities were being
opened. I began using the Perry plas-
tics as dollies, carefully scraping away
at each figure and adding a coat, each
figure a laborious effort – it looked
right, but it was taking time.
I’d also discovered forums and
found another avenue of encour-
agement and inspiration, I began
helping Steel Fist Miniatures
with sources for their Landskne-
chts and was sent a pack dollies to
see what I could do with them.
32 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119
Then Lion Rampant appeared, and
very soon after another friendship
was established, with Oli Green.
He was similarly new to gaming
and had a large Italian Wars col-
lection. We had a few games and
found the simplicity and adaptabil-
ity was perfect for our needs, they
became part of a winning formula of
gaming, discussion and cider.
EXPANSION
We soon found Lion Rampant a great
platform which can be built upon to
add period flavour to the rules and lists.
We wrote army lists and some early
sixteenth century adaptations for artil-
lery, pike and light cavalry.
Using primary sources such as Hall’s
Chronicle along with some back-
ground reading you can put together
some bespoke games with special
rules, and really achieve something
unique. The army lists and 16th centu-
ry rule additions mentioned have been
painstakingly play-tested and work
well in the games we've played.
Twelve years on, I’ve come full circle
and have recently re-based the Henry
VIII command as it needed some care
after being gamed with. I am by no
means done with this fascinating army,
the wealth of information and sources
are only serving to provide more units
to the painting queue. These collec-
tions and perhaps even more so the
friendships and connections that
come from it are a steady source of
encouragement and drive to new ide-
as. If you’re up for it, you can create
a convincing and colourful host with
I started with what I knew best plenty of character! WS&S
and added lots of coats. The first
pack of Tudor dollies followed and my
collection was incrementally boosted, ONLINE INSPIRATION
and even more possibilities were add- • Stuart's workbench
ed. A few years later I made another (https://bit.ly/3i7gyEO)
pack and Early Tudor infantry were • Je Lay Emprins
now possible for me and indeed any- (https://bit.ly/3JakoZC)
one else to do. They still required some • Harness and Array
additional sculpting on the arms and I (https://bit.ly/3CIxniE)
soon became proficient at those too* • Camisado
(https://bit.ly/3t9o5t9)
*I have created some live tutorials • Find the group ‘Army Royal’
on the Facebook group if you need on Facebook, where you can
some help with them – I consider download the ‘Renaissance
these a gateway drug for the ama- rampant’ rules adaptations.
teur sculptor.
 THE ORIGINAL
GROGNARDS -

A parade trumpet used by one of Napoleon's SS. Amongst these different formations, one of the most iconic
Imperial Guard units.
© G.Garitan / Wikimedia Commons
was the Imperial Guard of the late First Republic and First Empire.

By Eoghan Kelly

Pierre says:
WATCH AND WAIT
The canny French commander
does not commit the Guard at the
start of the battle. He waits until
he sees where the enemy is weak-
ening and then sends the Guard
in to break the enemy line.
W
hen Napoleon became
First Consul in 1799,
one of his first actions
was to create a Consu-
lar Guard with the ex-
press intention not just of providing
a bodyguard for the Consuls but also
to have the ability and numbers to
protect the Consuls, and in that way
to enforce a stability that had been
missing in the turmoil of the vari-
ous post-revolution governments. In
addition to this, Napoleon intended
the guardsmen to also be part of his

issonier depicts Napo-

This painting by Ernest Me
Battle of Friedland. The
leon's victory at the 1807
a couple of different
Emperor is surrounded by
Chasseurs à cheval de
guard units, including the
Grenadier à pied de
la Garde impériale and the
la Vieille Garde.
m of Art
36 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 © The Metropolitan Museu
campaigning armies, bringing an ad-
ditional force that could be relied on
to change the course of a battle if
committed at the right point.
The Guard soon saw action; they
were involved in the crucial fight-
ing at Marengo in June 1800. Ac-
counts differ as to the effectiveness,
but Napoleon used their experience
to create a mystique about the Guard
that saw them becoming almost leg-
endary overnight. When he crowned
himself emperor in 1804, he imme-
diately turned the Consular Guard
into the Imperial Guard and started
to draft the parameters that stated
entry requirements, expected behav-
iours, and the benefits due to mem-
bers of the guard. They were expect-
ed to be physically imposing, with a
minimum height requirement; they
had to be literate, have campaigning
experience, and be of good charac-
ter. In return they received much bet-
ter pay, better living conditions, and
superior uniforms, plus their rank
was the equivalent of the next higher
rank in other units, so a corporal in
the Guard was the equivalent of a
sergeant in other line units. In addi-
tion, the Guard were accorded the
privilege of being allowed to speak
their mind; accordingly, depend-
ing on the source, they were given
the nickname ‘les Grognards’ or ‘the
Grumblers’. As a result, the Guard
were fiercely loyal to the Emperor
and fought for him right to the bitter
end. There were many records of for-
mer members of the Old Guard who,
when they died many years later,
were buried standing upright so they
could guard the Emperor for all time.
The Guard always accompanied the
Emperor on campaign and were pre-
sent at many of his most famous bat-
tles, but they were used very sparing-
ly; Napoleon recognised that their
reputation, experience, and ferocity
when used lent them a psychological
edge that inspired their own troops,
and put fear into their enemies.
When he used them, Napoleon felt
they were always an effective tool
that could change the course of a
battle; this was proven at Austerlitz
(1805), Wagram (1809), and Ligny
(1815), to name a few. Taken in the 1860's, this early photograph
shows an old veteran who was once a sergeant
in the Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard during
Over the course of their existence the the Napoleonic Wars. He still proudly wears his
Guard grew from its initial establish- original uniform.
© The Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection
Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119
37
A sabre that was original-
ly made for a marine unit
x
of the Imperial Guard.
mons
© Rama / Wikimedia Com
(Top) A painting of the 1802 Battle of
Marengo, by Louis-François, Baron
Lejeune. This was one of the first battles
where the Imperial Guard saw action; how
effective they were was however debatable.
© Public domain
(Bottom) In this watercolour by Franz Joseph
Manskirsch, the British Life Guards are shown
charging at Imperial Guard cavalry during the Battle
of Waterloo on 18 June, 1815.
© The Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection
38 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119
ment of two
Grenadier and
two Chasseurs reg-
iments and was expanded
to have additional Grenadier
units, artillery, a broad range of
cavalry units including the fear-
some Grenadiers à Cheval, Marines,
and eventually the Young and Middle
Guard regiments.
GAMING THE GUARD
From a gaming point of view, it is
always hard to replicate how truly
game-changing the Guard could be.
The Guard units were not just units
with better morale; they were better
in every aspect. The bare minimum
for joining was ten years’ service
and to have faced musket fire from
the front, and this was expanded to
having to have served on three cam-
paigns; some of the veterans of 1814
had seen over twenty years’ ser-
vice and more than ten campaigns.
Many rules sets create ‘Guard’ units,
which are far too generic; I have
found that creating house rules for a
system can better reflect the unique-
ness of the Old Guard.
When using them in a battle, players
should be prepared to establish pa-
rameters – they never campaigned
without the Emperor, and they
were never just thrown into battle;
they should be a reserve. So even
if your system allows you to choose
Old Guard units as part of your se-
lection, it is more realistic to limit
their availability. I once saw a set of
rules that effectively made the Old
Guard grenadier units unbreakable,
which clearly feels nonsensical, but
they should be very hard to break.
In any good set of rules, they should
be elites but not ‘supermen’. The
challenge is that, if they are made
to be that good in any ruleset, then
French players will have a unit that
will stand and fight no matter what,
and also take significant casualties.
Why wouldn’t a French commander
commit the Guard from the outset?
There should also be a significant
downside to committing the Guard;
therefore, there must be a way to
potentially limit a player’s desire to
throw them into action. Examples
include limiting their availability
until the latter part of the battle, or
giving an opponent a victory point
‘bonus’ if they are used,
as the French com-
mander has had to call
on the Guard. If the
Old Guard are wiped
out in battle, then the
impact on the rest of
the army should be
catastrophic, as well
as handing their en-
emies an astonishingly
morale-boosting result.
Other Guard units would be
slightly less elite but would still be
exceptional units, the heavy cavalry
and the Young Guard especially; the
least effective would be the Mid-
dle Guard and the Marines, neither
of which ever really achieved their
aims as units.
The Guard were not just about their
morale; there should also be an el-
ement of fear that they created in
enemy formations, with few really
being able to stand against them for
any period of time. Their superior
training also meant they could keep
a higher rate of fire and could march
in formation faster than most units.
As the years went by, the quality
of the Old Guard was maintained
by a steady flow of veterans from
line formations who
wanted to join their
exalted ranks. In or-
der to capture all of
these factors, play-
ers should ensure
their games systems
allow for many or
all of these effects
to be reflected, while
A Napoleonic eagle standard,
x
which belonged to a regiment
of the Imperial Guard.
© BrokenSphere / Wikimedia Commons
making sure that other guard forma-
tions are not as effective but are still
superior to other formations. It is
also worth noting that at their maxi-
mum strength there were three regi-
ments of Old Guard Grenadiers, the
third being created in 1810 from the
Dutch Guard, and although a fourth
was raised it was only created in May
1815 and disbanded a month later.
The Guard should always be a tiny
portion of your army, and unless you
are fighting a small focused action
they should be your last resort when
committing forces, with some fairly
dire consequences if they fail.
Players should be mindful of just
how sparingly the Old Guard were
used. Losing such experienced sol-
diers was a loss Napoleon would
only risk in the direst of situations. At
the Battle of Aspern-Essling in 1809,
Napoleon avoided committing the
Old Guard despite the battle result-
ing in his first defeat in ten years – he
recognized that their commitment
would have been futile and would
not have had the effect of changing
the outcome of the battle. WS&S
Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119
This primative watercolour was executed by a cav-
alryman in the Imperial Guard. It shows the charge
of Polish Chevaux-légers against Austrian cavalry
outside the village of Gerastorff on 6 July, 1809.
© The Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection
Pierre says:
NEVER GIVE UP
When called upon to surrender,
we say: "Merde!" Whatever the
odds, play till the end. A battle
is often lost when a player's
personal morale is lagging. Do
not surrender mentally when
the dice go against you. Fight
on! Death or glory!
Arthur says:
PICK YOUR BATTLES
Napoleon's Guard is tough, but
that doesn't neccessarily go for
the rest of his army. Delay the
elite units and focus on break-
ing the other French forces – if
enough of these fall, victory will
still be yours.
39
 THE BATTLE OF HANAU: 30 – 31 OCTOBER, 1813
THEME

CLEAR THE WOODS

After the catastrophic defeat at Leipzig (16–18 October 1813), Napo-
leon tried to withdraw the broken French army to the Rhineland. He
was followed by between 50,000 and 60,000 men, but many of these
were little more than stragglers. Only the Imperial Guard, along with
parts of II, V, and XI corps and the reserve cavalry, were fit for battle,
perhaps 30,000 men in total. The French desperately needed time to
rest and regroup. Hanau was one of a series of actions where the Im-
perial Guard, largely preserved at Leipzig, would be actively commit-
ted to battle to stiffen and preserve a much-weakened French army.

By Nick Stock

M
aximilian, the elector of
Bavaria, had broken with
Napoleon on 8 October,
joining the allies under
the terms of the Treaty of
Ried. The Bavarian commander, Karl
Philipp von Wrede, united with an
Austrian corps under Baron Fresnet
and occupied Hanau with 42,000
men on 28 October, effectively
blocking Napoleon’s route toward
Frankfurt. Although he did not expect
to face the main French army under
Napoleon, Wrede was under pres-
sure to demonstrate Bavaria’s com-
mitment to its new allies, and there
was no prospect of him pulling back
without an action.
THE SCENARIO
Wrede’s army had drawn up north-
east of Hanau. His right wing was be-
hind the River Kinzig, while the left
deployed in open ground between
the Forest of Lamboi and Hanau.
Massed cavalry held the far left.
Wrede sent Austrian and Bavarian
light troops into the forest to warn
of and delay any French advance.
October 30. It’s an opportunity
(or perhaps an excuse?) to use
Napoleon ordered the infantry
those Old Guard grenadiers in a
of the Guard and MacDonald’s
historic action, in some rather dif-
XI Corps to clear the allies from the
ficult terrain, and an indication of how
woods on October 30, preparatory
flexible these veteran soldiers could
to a massed assault on the Austro-
be. The game is in part inspired by
Bavarian left and centre. Success
Horace Vernet’s painting The Battle of
would require the French not only
Hanau, which shows Guard artillery
to occupy the forest, but to success-
defending their battery hand to hand
fully move both batteries of guns and
against Bavarian and Austrian cavalry,
then the French cavalry through the
with French Imperial Guard cavalry
woods under the nose of the allies.
riding to their rescue.
This scenario focuses on a small part
of the action early in the battle on Suggestions are given for refighting
this action using the Too Fat Lardies’
Sharp Practice rules, and it should
be fairly easy to adapt to other large
skirmish rules for the era, such as
Studio Tomahawk’s Shakos and Bay-
onets or Osprey’s Chosen Men.

THE BATTLEFIELD
The tabletop represents a section of
the Forest of Lamboi. A 6' x 4' table
should be sufficient. Much of the east-
ern two thirds is forested, with a few
tracks leading through the trees and
the occasional open meadow or fallow
This 1824 painting by Horace Vernet
x

shows the moment the Austro-Bavarian

40 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 cavalry charged the French battery
during the Battle of Hanau.
© Public domain

A brigade of Bavarian fusiliers protected by a screen of skirmishers marches into the Lamboi woods.
field. A shallow but boggy stream cuts
through the forest. The western third
is more open and gives a superb view
of the left wing of the Austro-Bavarian
army a few hundred yards away, and,
just beyond it, the spires of Hanau and
the road to Frankfurt and safety!
The forest seems to have been travers-
able by large bodies of men, cavalry,
© Alan Perry
and guns as well as infantry. Count
wooded areas as broken ground giv-
ing light cover. By late autumn, the
trees allow for 12" of visibility. Op-
tionally, the first time a unit enters
each distinct area of woodland, roll
a die. If a 1 or 2 is scored, this area of
woods is denser, heavy going, light
cover, and 6" visibility.
The stream is a minor obstacle except
at the ford and offers no cover. Areas of
marshy ground are heavy going and of-
fer no cover. Hedges, ditches, and
walls are minor obstacles and
provide light cover.
Tracks count as roads for
movement purposes and are
© Alan Perry
wide enough for a single group, or a
formation one group wide, to move
along them without penalty.
The French
You have been ordered to clear the
woods of the enemy and safely escort a
battery of guns to the main road where
they will join others softening up the
Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119
enemy for a general assault. From the
crackle of musketry ahead, it seems the
treacherous Bavarians and Austrians
have at least some men in the woods
and will contest your advance!
Level 3 Leader
Level 1 Leader
Two groups of Old Guard grenadiers (each
of eight figures)
Level 2 Leader
Two groups of Old Guard grenadiers (each
of eight figures)
Level 2 Leader
Two groups of Guard skirmishers (each of
six figures)
Level 1 Leader
One Guard foot artillery battery (use what
you have – three gun models, or a couple of
guns and an ammo wagon, would be about
right, along with fifteen crew)
TOTAL: 77 points (excluding the artillery for
reasons explained below)
French forces use A and B as fixed de-
ployment points. They do not have a
primary deployment point in this game.
The French add +2 to their force mo-
rale roll, as you would expect for the
Imperial Guard!
The Bavarians
You have been ordered to hold the
Lamboi Forest. The French must not
bring any artillery forward. You can
hear the rattle of musketry through
the trees to either flank and, while
you cannot see much, it is clear the
French are heading for your position!
41
The force list is for Bavarians, but
you could equally represent ele-
ments of an Austrian regiment, or
even a mix of both.
Level 2 Leader
One group of Schützen, skirmishers with
rifles (six figures)
Level 2 Leader
Two groups of Schützen, skirmishers with
muskets (each of six figures)
Level 2 Leader
Level 1 Leader
Three groups of line infantry with muskets
(each of eight figures)
Level 2 Leader
Two groups of Chevaux-légers with sabres
(each of eight figures; for deployment see
below)
You may also place up to four barricades
TOTAL: 77 points
Bavarian forces have a primary fixed
deployment point at D and a second-
ary fixed deployment point at C. The
Bavarians count as the defenders for
this scenario.
The Bavarians’ force morale roll is
calculated without adjustment.
DEPLOYMENT
The Bavarians must place their bar-
ricades and set up one leader and his
men, following the usual rules, around
D. The rest deploy according to the
normal rules when their card is drawn
(but see below for the Chevaux-légers).
Then, the French may deploy two
leaders with their men, one at A and
one at B. Each formation or individu-
al group then rolls four dice and may
advance that number of inches onto
the board, but they must halt if they
reach 12" from the enemy.
Finally, shuffle together the Com-
mand, Leader, and Tiffin cards and
start the game.
Special rules
French artillery: has been ordered to
get through the woods to the main road
as quickly as possible. There it will form
up with other guns into a grand battery
to smash the allied centre. The guns
will deploy and move as limbered ar-
tillery in a single formation to their des-
tination. They may not unlimber until
they reach the main road between
E and F. The crew are equipped with
muskets and can use these to defend
themselves against an enemy at close
range (12") or fight hand to hand if they
have to. Once the guns reach the main
road and deploy, they are welcome to
fire at anyone hanging around in front
of them – count as two heavy guns.
Artillery in woods: artillery mov-
ing through broken ground off the
road will become bogged down
if they roll a double on their
movement dice as described
in the rules. Their next acti-
vation will be required to
free them.
Chevaux-légers: the card
for the officer commanding

BAVARIAN UNIT PROFILES

SCHÜTZEN WITH MUSKET TYPE: Skirmishers

POINTS: 7 WEAPON: Musket SIZE: 6

Formation First fire Controlled volley Crashing volley Step out Drill Characteristics
Always Yes - - 2 - Sharp practice

SCHÜTZEN WITH RIFLE TYPE: Skirmishers

POINTS: 10 WEAPON: Rifle SIZE: 6

Formation First fire Controlled volley Crashing volley Step out Drill Characteristics
Always Yes - - 2 - Good shots

FUSILIER TYPE: Conscripts and volunteers

POINTS: 4 WEAPON: Musket SIZE: 8

Formation First fire Controlled volley Crashing volley Step out Drill Characteristics
Always Yes First only 3 2 - -

CHEVAUX-LÉGERS TYPE: Scouting Cavalry

POINTS: 5 WEAPON: Sabre SIZE: 8

Formation First fire Controlled volley Crashing volley Step out Drill Characteristics
Always - - - 2 - -

The Bavarians and Austrians may not have the same level of self-confidence as the Imperial Guard, but they know their
business and should try to exploit the difficult terrain to slow and delay the French. Bavarian unit profiles are based on
those published by the Too Fat Lardies, with some tweaks for this scenario. For a lot more guidance and many more
troop profiles, their website offers a wealth of information: https://bit.ly/3pKPvTR

42 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119


the Bavarian Chevaux-légers is omit-
ted from the deck until a Tiffin card is
drawn and there is a French unit with
12" of D. At this point, shuffle the
card into the deck. The Chevaux-
légers may only deploy from C.
Barricades: Bavarian barricades
represent hastily felled tree trunks.
Each is 4" in length. They may be
placed anywhere within 36" of D be-
fore the French deploy. Barricades
provide light cover and are a major
obstacle. An otherwise unengaged
© Alan Perry
of the Allied cavalry, the French cav-
alry swung towards the allied centre,
which was also under attack from
the front. Unable to move significant
reinforcements from his unengaged
right wing, Wrede’s centre crumpled.
Wrede was able to maintain his posi-
tion on the right through the evening,
before slipping away overnight. Napo-
leon had cleared the road to the Rhine
and was able to move most of his army
to temporary safety near Mainz.
© Rocío Espin
From the allied perspective, al-
though clearly defeated, Wrede
and his men had demonstrated
Bavaria’s commitment to the al-
lied cause, albeit at a cost of 9,000
casualties. Although French losses
in the battle were lighter, the allies
continued to round up and capture
stragglers. It is estimated something
like 10,000 prisoners were taken in
the week to October 31 – Leipzig
cast a long shadow!

French unit can toss them aside with

a task role of 6+ (on 2D6).

VICTORY
To be victorious, the French battery
with at least ten surviving crew must
unlimber on or west of the road be-
tween E and F. The Bavarians win
if they can prevent this. Either side
may win by breaking the enemy
force morale.

AFTERMATH
The Guard cleared the Lamboi For-
est of the enemy skirmishers in 2–3
hours. This enabled General Antoine
Drouot to bring a battery of over 50
guns through the trees and subject
Wrede’s left wing to withering fire.
The Allies responded with a cavalry
assault but were driven off by the
arrival of the French Guard and
Reserve cavalry. With the defeat

Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 43

 © Alan Perry
Vive L'Empereur! Vive la France! The infantry G  uard patiently await their next orders. They have seen it all before.

OPTIONS
As noted above, you may use Austri-
ans rather than Bavarians as the al-
lied troops. Pick up to 77 points, of
which at least sixteen must be cav-
alry, and follow the Chevaux-légers
special rule.
Each side may select up to six
points of support from the generic
support list. The Bavarians can choose
additional barricades or breastworks.
If the French achieve their objective,
you could recreate part of the cavalry
action that followed. Slide the terrain
east so that the road E to F is now 12"
from the eastern side of the board. The
rest of the terrain should be largely
open, although a few small copses or
farm buildings could appear. D be-
comes the French primary deployment
point; the allies place theirs on the left,
western side of the board. Both sides
may select forces of up to 60 points of
cavalry and one artillery battery. The
French should select their cavalry from
the Imperial Guard. The Allies may use
any Austrian or Bavarian cavalry and a
horse artillery battery. WS&S

FRENCH UNIT PROFILES

OLD GUARD GRENADIERS TYPE: Elite

POINTS: 8 WEAPON: Musket SIZE: 8

Formation First fire Controlled volley Crashing volley Step out Drill Characteristics
Always Yes Yes 2 1 1 Aggressive, Stubborn, Pas de Charge

OLD GUARD SKIRMISHERS TYPE: Light infantry

POINTS: 9 WEAPON: Musket SIZE: 6

Formation First fire Controlled volley Crashing volley Step out Drill Characteristics
Always Yes - - 1 - Sharp practice, Aggressive, Stubborn

GUARD ARTILLERY TYPE: Artillery

POINTS: 6/7/9 WEAPON: Musket* SIZE: 15 men (5 per gun)

Formation First fire Controlled volley Crashing volley Step out Drill Characteristics
Special Yes Yes 3 2 - Aggressive, Stubborn

* Note – the gunners are focused on moving their guns forward. They may defend themselves at close range (12") with muskets if
necessary, and they move as a single formation.

It’s tempting to add a lot of positive characteristics for the Guard. These were certainly elite and experienced
formations with a lot of esprit de corps. The profiles used here try to give them a distinct edge, while keeping
them playable. They are modelled on those for better French infantry, with the addition of elite, stubborn, and
aggressive. This should make them a tough but by no means unbeatable opponent.

44 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119

 © Alan Perry
‘THE MOST DESPERATELY CONTESTED OF BATTLES’
THEME

THE BATTLE AT
HEURTEBISE FARM
The War of the Sixth Coalition started in March 1813, when the
Allied powers saw an opportunity following the disastrous inva-
sion of Russia. After the debacle of Leipzig, by spring 1814 most
of Germany had been cleared of French occupation. Now the
Russian and Prussian armies were advancing into France, and
Napoleon was desperately searching for a key knockout blow.

By Eoghan Kelly

T
hings were desperate for the
French. Napoleon had nearly
35,000 troops at his disposal
but faced allied armies totalling
three times that number. He did
have one advantage: manoeuvrability.
If he could defeat the allied armies in-
dividually, he could still win the war.
On 4 March 1814, Napoleon captured
the key bridge at Berry-au-Bac with a
mounted force consisting of Exelmans’
cavalry division and Pac’s cavalry bri-
gade. They overran the Russian defend-
ers, capturing two guns and (more im-
portantly) the bridge.
The bridge at Berry-au-Bac would al-
low the French army to confront the
Russian Army alone, neutralizing the
Prussians. Napoleon would still be
outnumbered, but he possessed a tac-
tical advantage that allowed him to
catch the Russians almost unaware.
This would help blunt at least part of
the threat that was advancing into the
heart of his Empire. Confident
that he now had the advantage,
he advanced on the disjointed
Russian forces that were posi-
tioned to the north and north-
west of Craonne. The Russians
were waiting for orders from
Blücher to move in one of two
directions and so had spread their
forces to cover either set of orders.
By the 5th, Napoleon’s troops
Farm. Defending the farm
had set themselves squarely
were troops of the 14th Jäger
across the approach roads, and
Regiment. They were well dug in but
starting at 0400 on the morning of
the wooded area to the east of the farm
the 6th, Guard units from the Young
came right up to the walls, masking
Guard division, the Old Guard divi-
the approach of the Young Guard sup-
sion, and the Guard cavalry division
ported by the Old Guard. These woods
were tasked with starting to attack the
were occupied by skirmishers, who
left flank of the Russians, capturing
Craonne, and advancing against the were sheltering in the pre-dawn cold
up close to the farm itself. The slopes
troops that sat on the plateau.
of the plateau were wooded, with the
only exception being to the west of the
By 0600, units from the Young and Old
Guard were advancing on Heurtebise farm, where there was one dense piece
of woods with a clear area running sev-
eral hundred metres to the west. This
area was occupied by Russian cavalry
units. As the sun rose, the Young Guard
launched their attack, catching the skir-
mishers by surprise…

PLAYING HEURTEBISE FARM

The Battle of Craonne was a large and
complex affair, consisting of several
A contemporary illustration
x

of the battle of Craonne,

46 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 of which Heurtebise Farm
was a small part.
© Public domain
 The Guard advances towards Heurtebise! The bayonet has always been the chief weapon of the brave in battle.

engagements, far too many to cover in The Guard units were well trained, had was an excellent divisional command-
a single article. We have instead cho- high morale, and were well led, the er who was leading his troops due to an
sen to look at this prelude to the main Young Guard especially as Meunier injury to their regimental commander.
battle, the opening attack on Heurteb-
© Rocío Espin
ise Farm, as a playable game for the
standard-sized wargames table.

The scenario we present here is pri-

marily rules agnostic, giving actual
troop numbers but adding some sug-
gestions of how the battle can be
recreated with several rules sets.

The French forces

Elements of 1st Old Guard and 1st
Young Guard corps
• General Meunier (good)
• 4th Young Guard voltigeur
regiment: 500 men

French reserves
• General Harlet (good)
• 2nd Old Guard grenadier
regiment: 800 men

Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 47

The Russian forces
Elements of 12th Infantry Division and
Benkendorf’s detached cavalry brigade
• General Krasovsky (average)
• 14th Jäger Regiment: 600 men
• Detached Jägers from 6th Jäger
Regiment: 200 men in skirmish
formation
Russian reserves
• Colonel Spiridon Zhevakhov
(good)
• Pavlograd Hussar Regiment:
400 troopers in six squadrons
• Buh Cossacks attached to Hus-
sars: 250 in skirmish formation
The infantry were battle hardened
and had fought in several campaigns;
however, they were far from home,
and defending against a surprise
dawn attack had rattled them. Their
training was good and they knew
they were supported by cavalry.
The Hussars were of high qual-
ity and well led by an expe-
rienced cavalry officer. The
Cossacks were of me-
diocre quality but
did allow for light
cavalry that could ne-
gotiate woodlands with
an degree of ease.
PLAYING THE GAME
The French should have the first
turn, having initiative. The winner
is the side in control of the farm at
the end of the game. Some games,
such as Black Powder, should have
a limit of nine turns.
The Russian infantry is de-
ployed in and around the
farmhouse (within 6"). They
have prepared the farmhouse
for defence (counts as cover) but
will need ordering to move and
take up their initial firing positions.

HEURTEBISE FARM FOR SHARP PRACTICE

For Sharp Practice 2, use the following profiles:
The Russians
French Guard Level 2 Leader
Level 2 Leader Two groups of Line Jägers, skirmishers with muskets (six figures)
Level 1 Leader Level 1 Leader
Two groups of Young Guard grenadiers (each eight figures) Two groups of Line Jägers, skirmishers with muskets (six figures)
Level 3 Leader Level 2 Leader
Two groups of Old Guard grenadiers (each of eight figures) Two groups of Russian Hussars with sabre (each of eight figures)
Level 2 Leader Level 1 Leader
One groups of Guard skirmishers (each of six figures) One group of Cossacks with sabres/lance/pistol (eight figures)

FRENCH UNIT PROFILES

YOUNG GUARD* TYPE: Regulars

POINTS: 7 WEAPON: Musket SIZE: 8

Formation First fire Controlled volley Crashing volley Step out Drill Characteristics
Always Yes First only 2 2 2 Pas de charge, aggressive

* For the Old Guard, use the stats from the Hanau 1813 scenario on page 44.

RUSSIAN UNIT PROFILES

LINE JÄGERS TYPE: Skirmishers

POINTS: 5 WEAPON: Musket SIZE: 6

Formation First fire Controlled volley Crashing volley Step out Drill Characteristics
Always Yes No - 2 - Hearth and home

HUSSARS TYPE: Scouting Cavalry

POINTS: 11 WEAPON: Sabre SIZE: 8

Formation First fire Controlled volley Crashing volley Step out Drill Characteristics
Always No No Always 2 2 Tally ho

COSSACKS TYPE: Scouting Cavalry

POINTS: 9 WEAPON: SABRE/LANCE/PISTOL SIZE: 8

Formation First fire Controlled volley Crashing volley Step out Drill Characteristics
No No No - 1 - Tactical

48 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119

 © Alan Perry
The French Young Guard enters from
any of the three marked points. The
Old Guard reserves can be called
upon as soon as the Russian cavalry
enters the table. Russian reserves can
be diced for from turn 3 and enter on
the road from Abbaye de Vauclair. Al-
ternatively, if your game does not al-
low reinforcements, players can have
control of their reinforcements from
turn 1, the Old Guard entering from
the same points as the Young Guard.

THE HISTORICAL BATTLE

The Young Guard quickly overran
the defenders and the Russians soon
abandoned the farm; however, the
The Cossacks, they’re coming, their horses’ eager hooves are drumming! Better make sure the infantry is prepared.
clear ground beyond allowed the
Hussars to force the Guard back,
© Alan Perry

and skirmish cavalry and loose-order

infantry made the farm untenable.
The Young Guard abandoned it and
melted into the woods. They quickly
recovered, attacked again with Old
Guard support, and drove the Rus-
sians out, but once again they were
forced to yield the farm due to deter-
mined counter attacks. The Guard ral-
lied and launched another attack, and
this time they ejected the Russians,
who did not launch an immediate
retaliation, waiting for fresh forces. At
0800 Marshal Ney decided the Guard
units were needed elsewhere, and the
farm was abandoned by 0900.

The clash gave confidence to the

Russian command that Guard units
could now be beaten by regular line
The impressive sight of the Guard infantry on the march. Few can match them in experience, skill or bravery.
units, despite losing huge numbers of
the forces engaged. The French were
now learning that the Russian forces
were not the poorly trained troops
HEURTEBISE FARM FOR BLACK POWDER
that last ventured into France in 1800 Treat the French forces as follows:
– these troops were supplied and General Meunier (Leadership 8)
well trained, and they could fight. • Three standard units of Young Guard voltigeurs
General Harlet (Leadership 8)
Craonne unfolded around this ac- • Four standard units of Old Guard grenadiers
tion into a huge battle that ulti-
mately achieved little for either side; Use the Imperial Guard stats from Albion Triumphant 2, page 124.
the French held the field, but their Treat the Russian forces as follows:
greater strategic objectives lay un- General Krasovsky (Leadership 7)
achieved. Ultimately this failure and • Four standard units of volunteer Jägers with muskets
the inability to stop Prussian advance
in the north east, coupled with Brit- Colonel Zhevakhov (Leadership 8)
ish advances in the south, meant Na- • Two standard units of Hussars
poleon had little choice but to nego- • One unit of Cossacks
tiate terms and go into exile on the Use the stats from pages 148–149 of Clash of Eagles.
island of Elba. WS&S

Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 49

 © Alan Perry
THE YOUNG GUARD AT PLANCENOIT – 18 JUNE, 1815

STEMMING
THEME

BLUCHER’S TIDE
From Napoleon’s perspective, at first the battle of Waterloo
looked like it was going to be a French victory. The fierce
battles for Hougoumont, La Haye Sainte, and Papelotte were
making slow progress, and he had yet to commit his reserves,
the Imperial Guard. Then reports arrived of the Prussian army
on his right flank near Bois de Paris. Wellington would have
to be defeated, then he could turn his strength onto Blucher.

By Martin Oaff and Guy Bowers

N
apoleon’s greatest underesti-
mation at Waterloo was the
position of Blucher’s army.
He believed the Prussians
had been defeated at Ligny
and were in full retreat, chased by
Grouchy. Instead, they turned his
flank at Waterloo. With ever greater
numbers of Prussians arriving on his
right flank, Napoleon saw the risk of
them cutting into his rear and line
of retreat by an attack on Plancenoit
followed by a sweep to Maison de
Roi and cutting the Charleroi road.
Plancenoit itself was only 1000 yards
to the east of his headquarters at La
Belle Alliance. He ordered General
Mouton to hold and decided to com-
mit the Young Guard in an attempt to
break the Prussian advance. It would
be his last few throws of the dice in
the battle. What happened in Plance-
noit would determine the outcome of
Waterloo: if the French could hold the
village and delay the Prussians, there
was still hope of victory if the French
attacks against the British went well.
General George Mouton was tasked
with holding Plancenoit. He ad-
vanced the 19th and 20th infantry
divisions from their reserve position
at La Belle Alliance and ordered
them to take up defensive positions
at Plancenoit, which, dominated
by its church, was a good loca-
tion for a defensive stand. Mouton
knew the Young Guard would soon
reinforce his position. Opposing
him was Friedrich-Wilhelm, Count
Bülow von Dennewitz, commander
of the Prussian IV Corps. His orders
from Blucher were to take Plance-
noit, even though only half of his
brigades were in position. The 15th
infantry brigade with the 16th on its
left would be the first to arrive, with
the 13th and 14th infantry brigades
some distance behind. Bülow had
his orders: the Prussians had to at-
tack regardless to take the pressure
off the British line.

GAMING THE BATTLE

This battle was a ‘seesaw’, as each
side poured reinforcements into
Plancenoit and retook the village.
The main challenge with recreat-
ing Plancenoit on the tabletop
is the sheer mass of forces in-
volved. If all the correct bat-
talions are used (and as-
suming one unit equals
a battalion, as in Black
Powder), then players
In this painting by
x

19th-century artist Adolf

50 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 Norther, the Prussians
storm into Plancenoit.
© Public domain
 The impressive sight of the 'Red Lancers' of the Guard forming before the charge. Models by Perry Miniatures.

will need a very big table indeed!
So for practicality, gamers need to
cut down the number of troops to
a manageable level. I propose to
count every regiment as a ‘unit’
(when in reality, a Prussian regiment
would consist of three battalions of
infantry, while the French had two).
To reflect this, I have made the Prus-
Terrain
I have chosen to set this battle in an
area covering Plancenoit itself and the
countryside to the north of the village.
To the south, the terrain slopes steep-
ly down to the river. All the buildings
should count as cover, with the church
counting as a defensible building (hard
cover for one unit). While muddy, the
roads are all passable. Any woodland
should count as difficult terrain and un-
suitable for cavalry.
Objectives
The Prussian aim is to capture the vil-
lage, taking the pressure off Welling-

© Rocío Espin
sian infantry units large and the
French standard size. With this re-
duction, players might get close to
having a game that can be recreated
on a 6'x4' table or thereabouts.

If players want to, and have the space,

they can look up the actual orders of
battle for the units concerned. Be-
ware: to fully play out Plancenoit,
you’ll need either a very small scale
or a very big table, or both!

I’ve kept the units simple, so this sce-

nario can be adapted to any rule set;
you could even use Rebels and Pa-
triots! If Black Powder or Epic Wa-
terloo is used, a good commander
is leadership 8 and an average
commander leadership 7.

As the Prussians have the initia-

tive, they have the first turn.

Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 51

ton’s troops. The French must prevent
this at all costs. If the Prussians can
drive the French from the field, it will be
a major Prussian victory. If the French
can repel the Prussian advance, it will
be a major French victory, although
with the French reserves committed
to Plancenoit and not against
Wellington, it might not be
enough to swing the battle
in Napoleon’s favour.
For larger games, small
units are 12 strong, stand-
ard units of infantry
should be 24 men,
and large units 32. Cavalry should
be 12 strong. Halve this for smaller
games, such as Rebels and Patriots,
giving infantry units of 6, 12, and 18
respectively. We generally play two
artillery pieces to the unit. Consult the
following tables for a breakdown of the
French and Prussian forces present at
the battle.
USING REBELS AND PATRIOTS
At first, the idea for using Rebels and
Patriots for Plancenoit might seem a
little strange. That ruleset is, after all,
designed for wars in North America.
The rules actually cover everything
you need. All that is needed is an
idea of what the units will look like
on the battlefield.
Rebels and Patriots uses infantry units
of 12, and cavalry units of 6 figures.
There are also rules to allow large in-
fantry units of 18, which is, conveni-
ently, exactly half a ‘standard’ unit in
games like Black Powder. A few minor
tweaks may be needed, but beyond
that, the rules should work fine. As
with any large battle, even though the
rules for Rebels and Patriots are very
streamlined, such a big battle will
probably take more than an evening
to play to completion, so this battle is

THE FRENCH DEFENDERS OF PLANCENOIT

The French forces can start on the map, as shown and oc- French reinforcements (arriving turn 4)
cupying Plancenoit. There should be at least 18" between the The reinforcements enter from the western map edge. Ar-
French and Prussian forces. Artillery may start unlimbered. tillery is limbered.
Commander: General Georges Mouton (Average) 1st Division: Lieutenant-général Pierre, Comte Barrois (Good)
19th Infantry Division: 1st Brigade:
Lieutenant-général Baron François-Martin Simmer (Average)
1er régiment de tirailleurs standard Young Guard
1st Brigade:
1er régiment de voltigeurs standard Young Guard
5e régiment d’infanterie de ligne standard line infantry
2nd Brigade:
11e régiment d’infanterie de ligne standard line infantry
3e régiment de tirailleurs standard Young Guard
2nd Brigade:
3e régiment de voltigeurs standard Young Guard
27e régiment d’infanterie de ligne standard line infantry
Divisional artillery:
84e régiment d’infanterie de ligne standard line infantry
7e compagnie auxillaire one standard six-pounder
Divisional artillery: d’artillerie à pied artillery battery
1er compagnie, 8e régiment one standard six-pounder 8e compagnie auxillaire one standard six-pounder
d’artillerie à pied artillery battery d’artillerie à pied artillery battery
1er compagnie, 7e escadron du one standard six-pounder
train d’artillerie artillery battery French reinforcements arriving turn 8
4e compagnie, 8e escadron du battery is combined with the The reinforcements enter from the western map edge.
train d’artillerie one above Major Juste Golizo (Good)
20th Infantry Division: 2e bataillon 2e regiment de standard Old Guard
Lieutenant-général Baron Jean-Baptiste Jeanin (Average) grenadiers a pied grenadier unit
1st Brigade:
Note: The Old Guard grenadiers and chasseurs at Plan-
5e régiment d’infanterie légère standard light infantry cenoit were hardly two battalions in strength. This trans-
lates into a single standard unit of Old Guard – all that
10e régiment d’infanterie de ligne standard light infantry
Napoleon could spare. The rest of the Guard had been
2nd Brigade: committed to an attack on the British line.
107e régiment d’infanterie de ligne standard line infantry
I have limited the amount of artillery the French have,
Divisional artillery: as its effects in most games can
be too powerful. Players may
2e compagnie, 8e régiment one standard six-pounder
d’artillerie à pied artillery battery choose to add in additional
artillery units, but at their
3e compagnie, 8e escadron du battery is combined with the
peril, as it will seriously up-
train d’artillerie one above
set the scenario.

52 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119

© Alan Perry

Prussian infantry charge the defenders of Plancenoit church in the opening attack on the village. They'll be back.

probably suited for a club day or us-
ing only half the units suggested, con-
centrating on the attack on the village
alone. This will make Plancenoit more
playable, but miss out on the fighting
around the village.
The French army
Most of the French infantry will be
standard Line Infantry straight from
the rules (@4 points). The French
© Alan Perry
The Prussian line infantry were
noted for their aggression and most
rulesets acknowledge this. Therefore
the Prussian line should be a Large
Aggressive Line unit @ 6 points. The
landwehr weren’t as good, so should
be Large, Green Line @4 points. The
Prussian Schützen should be Sharp-
shooting skirmishers @6 points. The
artillery should be medium with lim-
bers (@8 points). The Prussian Hus-
sars should be counted as a Small,
Aggressive unit of Shock Cavalry @6
points. Prussian Landwehr Cavalry
should be counted as Small, Green
Shock Cavalry @4 points per unit.
The Schwere Batterie firing at ex-
treme range should count as a bat-
tery of Heavy Artillery, firing at the
edge of the table, for 8 points.

artillery should be medium as they

were 6 pounders, not ‘battalion
guns’, with limbers (@8 points). The
5e régiment d’infanterie légère are
Light Infantry (@6 points).

The Imperial Guard are more complex

to translate into Rebels and Patriots,
but the Young Guard should be either
Veteran Light Infantry (@7 points) or
Shock infantry (@6 points). I feel the
former suits their role better. The Old
Guard is Veteran, Aggressive Shock In-
fantry (@9 points).

As noted in the orders of battle

above, the Prussian units are large,
to account for our rescaling of three
Prussian battalions into a ‘unit’
Prussian reinforcements arrive, with the 13th and 14th Brigades in the nick of time to push the attack forward.
for game purposes.

Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 53

USING BLACK POWDER
While there is a scenario for Plancenoit
in Albion Triumphant 2: The Hundred
Days Campaign, repeated in Epic Wa-
terloo, it would require a very large ta-
ble and a very large figure collection.
The scenario also does not mention the
units involved, I do like to get the cor-
rect flags and uniforms for each unit.
For Black Powder, a good commander
is leadership 8 and an average com-
mander leadership 7. Stats for the
Prussians can be found on
page 128 of Albion Trum-
phant 2 page 212 of Epic
Waterloo. The French stats
can be found on page 118 of
AT2 and page 236 of EW.
HOW THE BATTLE UNFOLDED
Mouton’s forces took up positions
in and around the village of Plance-
noit, awaiting the Prussian arrival.
The 15th and 16th Prussian Bri-
gades started their attack at approxi-
mately 6.30 pm. Soon the weight of
the Prussians began to tell, and the
French 19th and 20th Divisions were
forced back, the Prussians capturing
some French artillery. At this point,
the Young Guard under Duhesme ar-
rived and reversed the situation, ral-
lying the French troops.
The Young Guard forced the Prussians
out of Plancenoit, only to be met by
the Prussian second wave. These rein-
forcements forced the French for a sec-
ond time from the now-ruined village.
The arrival of the veteran Grenadiers
of the Old Guard stopped the Prussian
advance for a while, and lifted the
spirits of the French troops. In the end,
they too were thrown back. Plancenoit
belonged to the Prussians, and it was
only the falling of night that prevented
them advancing further. However, the
damage had been done and Napole-
on’s army’s retreat turned into a rout.
The Allied victory was complete; it
was the worst defeat the French army
had seen in Napoleonic times. Napo-
leon had gambled and lost, at the cost
of very many brave French and Allied
soldiers’ lives. WS&S

THE PRUSSIAN ATTACKERS

The Prussian forces can start on the map, as shown. There 1. Pommerisches Landwehr- standard Landwehr
should be at least 18” between the French and Prussian Kavallerie-Regiment cavalry unit
forces. Artillery may start unlimbered. Each of the regular
Husaren-Regiment standard Hussar unit
Prussian brigades has a small attached unit of Schützen
riflemen, as noted below. These would have a significant * The 3. Schwere Batterie was used at extreme range and bombarded as
role to play in clearing the French from the village. far as La Haye Sainte! The Prussian player can choose to have it fire ‘off
table’ up to Plancenoit at maximum range
Commander: Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Bülow (Good)
Prussian reinforcements arriving turn 6
15th Brigade: Generalmajor Michael Heinrich von Losthin (Average)
The reinforcements enter from the eastern map edge. Ar-
18. Infanterie-Regiment large infantry unit tillery is limbered.
(+ small Schützen)
13th Brigade: Generallieutenant Albrecht Georg von Hake (Good)
3. Schlesisches Landwehr- large Landwehr unit
Infanterie-Regiment 10. Infanterie-Regiment large infantry unit
(+ small Schützen)
4. Schlesisches Landwehr- large Landwehr unit
Infanterie-Regiment 2. Neumärkisches Landwehr- large Landwehr unit
Infanterie-Regiment
14. Fußbatterie standard six-pounder
artillery battery 3. Neumärkisches Landwehr- large Landwehr unit
Infanterie-Regiment
16th Brigade:
Oberst Johann August Hiller von Gaertringen (Average) 21. Fußbatterie standard six-pounder
artillery batter
15. Infanterie-Regiment large infantry unit
(+ small Schützen) 14th Brigade: Generalmajor Gustav Xavier von Ryssel I (Average)

1. Schlesisches Landwehr- large Landwehr unit 11. Infanterie-Regiment large infantry unit
Infanterie-Regiment (+ small Schützen)

2. Schlesisches Landwehr- large Landwehr unit 1. Pommerisches Landwehr- large Landwehr unit
Infanterie-Regiment Infanterie-Regiment

Fußbatterie standard six-pounder 2. Pommerisches Landwehr- large Landwehr uni

artillery battery Infanterie-Regiment

Reserves - can be attached to von Bülow or to the infantry brigade
11. Reitende Batterie
3. Schwere Batterie*
1. Neumärkisches Landwehr-
Kavallerie-Regiment
standard six-pounder
artillery battery
standard twelve-pounder
artillery battery
standard Landwehr
cavalry unit
13. Fußbatterie standard six-pounder
artillery battery
Blücher did have further reserves that were com-
mitted to Plancenoit, but the forces presented
should give a balanced game. As the reserves
come in at different times, Plancenoit should
change hands several times, which is exactly
what happened during the battle.

54 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119

THE IMPERIAL GUARD IN MINIATURE

POUR L’EMPEREUR!
Without doubt, the most famous formation in
the Napoleonic Wars was the French Imperial
Guard. The ranks of the Guard ware chosen Old Glory 40mm Old Glory UK stocks the
40mm Sash and Saber
Range: Comprehensive
from veterans of French campaigns, so they (infantry and artillery) range; each model has a
weren’t afraid of being under fire. They were separate head. The com-
Size: 40mm ‘foot to eye’
pany also stocks the Old
Napoleon’s not-so-secret weapon, to be com- Glory 28mm range.
mitted at the right time to break the enemy line.

By Guy Bowers

I
n this article we have chosen a wide selection of
manufacturers. The focus has been on the latter part
of the Napoleonic Wars; we have not covered the
earlier Consular Guard, nor the many smaller units
of the Guard, such as the Marines of the Guard. Bicorne 28mm Bicorne Miniatures stocks
the Bicorne and Connoisseur
Range: Comprehensive
As always, the limits of time and magazine space (infantry, cavalry, and artillery) range of Napoleonics. The
prohibit us from covering every single manufacturer. cavalry are bought as horse
Size: 29mm ‘foot to eye’
We classify ranges as follows: Basic (basic infantry); or 34mm tall (£2.00) and rider (£1.25).
Standard (has the essentials); Comprehensive (as Price: £1.25 per model; £3.25
Standard, but with cavalry and personalities); and
Complete (you’d have to think hard to come up with
units they don’t have). WS&S

In an era of impressive
uniforms, the Imperial
Guard stand at the pin-
nacle. The illustration
x

shows two impressive

Chasseurs a Cheval.
© Public domain

Eagle Figures 28mm Eagle Figures has a good

range of French. For the
Range: Comprehensive
Guard, it has Guard infan-
Size: 28mm ‘foot to eye’ or
try, cavalry, and artillery.
33mm tall
Price: £1.40 per miniature

Essex Miniatures 28mm Essex Miniatures has a

comprehensive range of
Range: Comprehensive
French and Guard. Horses
Size: 27mm ‘foot to eye’
are bought separately
or 31mm tall
(£2.35) plus rider (£1.90).
Price: £1.40 per miniature

Range: Comprehensive
Size: 28mm ‘foot to eye’
Foundry Miniatures 28mm
Range: Complete
Size: 27mm ‘foot to eye’
or 32mm tall
Price: £12.00 for eight infantry or
three cavalry
Gringo 40s 28mm
Range: Basic
Size: 28mm ‘foot to eye’ or
36mm tall
Price: £1.60 per miniature
Offensive Miniatures 28mm
Range: Basic
Size: 28mm ‘foot to eye’
or 33mm tall
Price: £12.00 for one artillery
piece and six artillery crew
Front Rank, now owned
by Gripping Beast, has a
very good range of Guard,
including infantry, cavalry,
and artillery.
Foundry Miniatures has a
good range of French and
Imperial Guard originally
sculpted by the Perry twins.
Gringo 40s has an unusual
range of Engineers of the
Guard. It also has Lancers
of the Guard.
Offensive Miniatures pro-
duces two artillery pieces
with crew. A battery of four
guns (3x 12" guns plus a 6"
howitzer) can be bought
for £45.00.
Victrix Miniatures 28mm Victrix Miniatures does four
packs of plastic Guard: Old
Range: Standard
Guard, Old Guard Chas-
Size: 28
seurs, Middle Guard, and
Guard Lancers.
Perry Miniatures 28mm Perry Miniatures has an
extensive range of French
Range: Complete
including Imperial Guard.
Size: 28mm ‘foot to eye’
It includes vignettes, infan-
or 33mm tall
try, cavalry, and artillery.
Warlord Games 28mm Warlord has Old Guard
Grenadiers, Guard Chas-
Range: Standard
seurs, and Marines of the
Size: 28mm ‘foot to eye’ or
Guard. The company also
has Guard artillery and
even a Guard band!
SHQ 20mm SHQ Miniatures has a
good range of 20mm
Range: Comprehensive
Napoleonics, including
Size: 20mm ‘foot to eye’
Guard infantry, cavalry,
or 24mm tall
and artillery.
Price: £3.63 for four infantry
miniatures
Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 57
Blue Moon 15mm Blue Moon Manufacturing
has a good range of Impe-
rial Guard. They are avail-
able from Old Glory UK.
Essex Miniatures has a
wide range of Napoleonics,
Range: Complete
including French Guard in-
Size: 15mm ‘foot to eye’
fantry, cavalry, and artillery.
or 18mm tall
Price: £4.20 for eight miniatures
Peter Pig 15mm Peter Pig has a tongue-in-
cheek range of Imperial
Range: Basic
Guard, featuring one pack
Size: 15mm ‘foot to eye’ or
of Guard Grenadiers run-
18mm tall
ning away!
Warlord Epic 15mm Warlord Games has pro-
duced a plastic set of Guard.
Range: Standard
This includes 240 Guard,
Size: 13.5mm ‘foot to eye’
30 Marines of the Guard, 30
or 18mm tall
Engineers of the Guard, 3x
Price: £25.00 for 300 miniatures
twelve-pounder guns, and 3x
mounted colonels.
58 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119
Magister Militum 10mm Magister Militum has a
good range of Napoleon-
Comprehensive
ics, including French Impe-
10mm ‘foot to eye’ or
rial Guard. This includes
Guard infantry, cavalry,
£7.70 for 36 foot or £6.40
and artillery.
Pendraken has a good
selection of Napoleonics.
Range: Comprehensive
This includes French Impe-
Size: 10mm ‘foot to eye’ or
rial Guard infantry, cavalry,
12mm tall; cavalry are 18mm tall
and artillery.
Price: £3.20 for sixteen foot
Baccus 6mm Baccus has a comprehen-
sive Napoleonic range. It
Range: Complete
even includes a vignette of
Size: 6mm
Napoleon’s command tent.
Price: £4.00 for 48 infantry or
£9.25 for 45 cavalry
Heroics and Ros 6mm Heroics and Ros makes a
comprehensive selection
Range: Comprehensive
of Napoleonics, includ-
Size: 6mm
ing French Guard infantry,
Price: £5.00 for 50 figures
cavalry, and artillery.

CHARGE OF THE LANCERS OF THE GUARD
THEME
EN AVANT!
Some months back I was approached by the
guys from Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy re-
questing me to paint some figures for a forth-
coming cover of their magazine. The subject
was pretty clear: Napoleon’s Imperial Guard.
This subject gave me a considerable amount
of wargaming figures to choose from, but at
the same time it was rather tricky to come up
with a decision on what I would actually paint.
I wanted to avoid the obvious choice of the
Old Guard Grenadiers and the ubiquitous Impe-
rial Staff, so this narrowed the range of war-
gaming figures that qualified for my purposes.
By Angel Aparicio
T
he most important feature that I was looking for
in the figures was a good sculpting and casting
quality. For this, I had to rely on the pictures
available on the web, and on
my own personal taste. After a
thorough inspection of the list of can-
didates, I finally decided to have a
go at Victrix’s French Napoleonic
Imperial Guard lancers. I chose
these particular figures because
they met my two most im-
60 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119
portant requirements: The sculpting was very good, far
above the average 28mm wargaming figure, and, being
cast in plastic, the casting was clean and crisp. There
were, and are, a bunch of very good and inspiring pic-
tures of fellow-painters on Victrix’s web site, plus some
clear close-up pictures of the 3D modelling.
Having settled on the idea with WS&S and receiving
the set straight from Victrix, I examined the sprues and
was deeply satisfied with what I saw. There are a lot of
parts and possible combinations, which allow a variety
of poses, delivering a good sense of action to the overall
group of figures. Both the officer and the trumpeter each
have a designated horse, and the rest of the horses (they
come with four different poses) can fit any given lancer.
This particular work involved a group of seven figures
(horse and rider), but even a three-figure setting would
work perfectly for a cover picture–vignette.
In order to give some flexibility for the cover picture, I
decided to carefully remove the horses’ plastic bases.
This was done with cutting pliers and a fresh cutter and
scalpel. Once the base was removed from each horse,
I drilled a hole (at least 5 mm deep) through the hoof/s
where they touched the ground, and pinned/glued a
brass rod in it. This was done using a 0.5 mm drill and
rod. This work will allow the figures to be pinned to
foam-based terrain and let me test different settings until
the desired one is found for the cover picture.
Assembling the figures was pretty straightforward, and I
always try to assemble as many of the parts as possible
before painting. Once all figures were assembled, it was
just a matter of putting in the work and detail when paint-
ing. I hope you like the result. WS&S
You can check out more of Angel's work and his own
line of figures here: www.oniriaminiatures.com
 THE IRREGULAR
COLUMN

n
© Georgie H
arm
a PAINTING MINIATURES IN 1990 (AMERICAN STYLE)
After nearly two years of COVID madness, I finally made it back across
the Atlantic to see my parents in North Carolina for Christmas. For
all the conventions that have been postponed and gaming dates
cancelled, it has been this disconnect from my parents that has been
the hardest part of the pandemic for me. The trip involved four COVID
tests, a briefcase full of documentation, and enough stress to make me
question the wisdom of the journey, but thankfully, it all worked out.
I stayed in my old room, where I’d spent most of my youth; except this
time, I shared it with my wife and two children. In truth, the room has
By Joseph McCullough changed enough that most of the ghosts of my past have wandered off.

T
hat said, in one of the closets I found a cou-
ple of miniature cases, containing the dregs
of my young adult painting. These are the
figures that I have never bothered to take
back to England despite numerous trips
back and forth, mostly old Reaper miniatures and
some from Wargames Foundry. I also discovered a
box containing hundreds of random plastic bits for
various Warhammer 40,000 vehicles.
A couple of days into the trip, my mother pulled
out several large envelopes filled with old photo-
graphs – almost the entirety of the family archives.
She had already scanned them all for digital pos-
terity and planned to throw the originals away,
unless we children wanted them. This led to sev-
eral joyous hours of going through photos, digging
up old memories and telling stories. I didn’t feel
the need to keep many of them, but then I came
across one that really caused me to pause.
It’s a photograph of me, sitting at my desk in my old
room, painting miniatures. The more I stared at that
photo, the more details leapt out at me, the more
memories of my nascent wargaming hobby flooded
back. Even with a magnifying glass, I can’t tell what
I’m painting in the photo, but open on the desk next
to me is a box of the original, plastic Imperial Guards-
men from Citadel Miniatures. That is notable in and of
itself. Games Workshop in 1990 was not the giant it
is today, and obtaining its miniatures in the American
south could prove a slow process. I can still remem-
ber asking my local gaming store, Cosmic Castle, to
order them for me. I had seen them in a copy of White
Dwarf, a magazine I would occasionally buy for the
cool art and miniatures, even though I couldn’t fath-
om most of the articles. It took several weeks to arrive,
but one night I got ‘the call’. I didn’t get many phone
calls in those days, so it sticks in the memory. I then
begged my parents to take me out to the shop before it
closed for the day, which they did. Those guardsmen
formed the backbone of much of my miniature gam-
ing for several years to come. I didn’t actually have
any rules to use for them, or any wargaming rules pe-
riod, but I happily made up my own. I have no idea
where any of those plastic guardsmen are now.
Perhaps the most amazing thing about this photo is
the little glass jars of Testors, oil-based paints that
can been see on the desk. This reveals that I’m still
in my first phase of miniature painting, when I didn’t
know any better! Painting with oils was awful in
pretty much every way. It took ages to dry. Brushes
had to be cleaned with turpentine. If you got any
paint on your clothes … well, forget it. This prob-
ably explains why I’m wearing a Punisher t-shirt (a
character I never liked) and trousers with a gaping
hole in the knee (I was never fashionable enough for
that to be a fashion decision). Also, using oil paints
meant that all your miniatures ended up super shiny/
high gloss … which seemed okay at the time, but
now looks incredibly dated. I’m apparently so into
my painting in the photo that I haven’t noticed that
my brush-cleaning cloth has fallen onto the floor!
Not long after this photograph was taken, I signed
up for a miniature panting class at Cosmic Castle
and learned the great joys of acrylic paint. All those
oil paints were quickly abandoned in favour of
cheaper, easier, hobby craft paints.
Also on the desk, just to the right of the box and
in front of the paints, is a miniature chariot with
a pair of black horses. I can just barely remem-
ber this metal miniature, but I’m not sure where it
comes from. I suspect Ral Partha, as that was one
of the few miniature ranges commonly available
in gaming stores of the time.

64 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119

At first, I had little idea when this photograph might
have been taken, or even how old I was. Then, I found
another photograph that must have been taken right
around the same time; except, in this one, I’m read-
ing a copy of Dragon magazine, which I was able to
date to July 1990 (thanks to a quick internet search
of a description of the cover). Since that magazine is
almost certainly contemporary, I had probably just
turned fourteen when the photographs were taken.
It's amazing to look back at that pudgy-cheeked
fourteen-year-old and think how far I have come.
Who could have known that those early steps into
painting miniatures would turn into a lifelong ob-
session and even part of my profession! And yet, I
still think there are a couple of lessons I can draw
from those earliest days of the hobby. Without want-
ing to view the past with my rose-tinted glasses or
longing for a Golden Age that never really existed, I
am reminded of a couple of important points.
The first lesson I draw from this photograph is how
much I valued every miniature I bought, and every
terrain piece I built. In those days of low money, but
plenty of time, I sucked every bit of joy out of each pur-
chase. I painted every figure as well as I could, even
if it wasn’t that great, because who knew when I’d get
more miniatures to paint? In the same way, I thought
a lot about the ways I could use each miniature to ex-
tract maximum fun. Nowadays, when money isn’t the
same limiting factor, I sometimes catch myself buying
figures and painting them as quickly as possible ‘just
to get them done’. What a silly way to approach the
hobby! Somehow, I occasionally spend money and
manage to acquire a burden! I’m not arguing that we
should all adopt a minimalist approach, but that like
my fourteen-year-old self, each purchase should be a
joy and given maximum attention before moving onto
the next thing. As we get older, we generally have
more purchasing power to buy what we want, but if
we lose the joy in those acquisitions, what’s the point?
Beyond the simple message of valuing your purchas-
es, I think there is a deeper message in this photo-
graph from the past. As I mentioned earlier, in those
days, the only rules I had for playing with miniatures
were the ones I invented myself. This brought a huge
amount of freedom as my hobby was beholden to
nothing and no one. I didn’t have to worry about
specific rulesets, or companies, or intellectual prop-
erty. I never worried if I was constructing a ‘legal’
or even ‘historically accurate’ army. I simply bought
the miniatures that I thought were cool, and then I
figured out how to use them. Thus, not only could I
do whatever I wanted, but it also challenged me cre-
atively to work everything I acquired into whatever
games I wanted to play or stories I wanted to tell.
Now obviously, I’m not advocating that everyone
should write their own rules! If nothing else, that
would be rather hypocritical. I do believe, however,
that rules should be seen as the excuse to buy the
miniatures you want to buy and to play the games
you want to play, not the other way round. Most of
us got into the hobby because we were drawn to
the figures, not the rules.
When I wrote Frostgrave, I included a large bestiary
of monsters. I included all these monsters because
I thought they were cool, and because I thought
people might have them in their collection or might
want to collect them. I wanted to make sure that
people could use them in the game. I didn’t expect
that anyone would feel an obligation to go out and
get every figure listed! Plus, I wanted to provide
loads of examples so that people would feel more
comfortable creating their own stats for any figure
they happened to have or want to buy.
Now, there is nothing wrong with being devoted to
a specific game or historical period – it’s just impor-
tant to remember that we impose those limitations on
ourselves, and unless we are tournament players, we
are free to discard (or at least loosen) those limitations
anytime we choose. For example in Oathmark, there
has been discussion about the point costs for elves;
some players think they are too high. While I don’t
necessarily agree, it sounded like these point values
were affecting the players’ fun. I proposed two poten-
tial solutions, players could simply knock a point or
two off the cost of elves in their games, or they could
use elf stats for the elite units in their army, and then
use cheaper human stats for rank and file elves. As
long as your opponent is aware of this, and it’s obvi-
ous during the game, what harm is done? None. Let
the fun lead the rules, not vice versa.
These days, I’m a well-known advocate of the ‘use
whatever miniatures you want’ approach to gam-
ing, but even I forget sometimes and get caught up
in the idea of needing specific figures to play. Four-
teen-year-old Joe had no doubts about who ruled
his hobby; these days I sometimes lose track.
Thanks to technology, as my own children grow up,
it seems that every little phase and aspect of their life
is documented on camera or even video. It’s amaz-
ing to think that this photograph is probably the only
one that exists of young-me painting, an activity I
spent hundreds and hundreds of hours engaged upon
as a youth. But maybe that’s for the best. Maybe it is
the rareness and uniqueness of this photograph that
causes me to linger over it and try to extract every
little memory I can from it. Maybe its scarcity brings
the same joy as the scarcity of miniatures when I was
younger? Plus, it means I can share it with others with-
out boring them with an endless slideshow! WS&S
Check out some of the photos from Joe's childhood
at the following link: https://bit.ly/3whLb2B
Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 65
 SCRATCH-BUILDING A FRENCH-STYLE WALLED FARM
HOBBY

A LITTLE PIECE OF
NORMANDY
When a scenario includes a distinct, real location, it’s fun to
try and build an accurate representation of the buildings that
THE RESEARCH
The scenario is focused around a
small Normandy farm that Captain
Ronald Speirs, of the 101st Airborne
Division, called ‘House A’ in his
1948 report. He describes the farm
as having a waist-high wall, stone
were involved. This gives the table an additional level of real- buildings and a courtyard. He noted
ism. Sometimes the best way to replicate a building is to be that earlier that day, mortar shelling
had set fire to the rooftops. Using the
brave, unholster your hot-glue gun, and build it from scratch. map that Speirs provided in the re-
port, I was able to locate the farm.
By Joe Bilton It lies 1km north east of Donville
Manor (‘Douville’ in the report). The

T
he farm that is the focus of
my 'Isolated at Bloody Gulch'
scenario has a lot of character
and so I wanted buildings on
my table that recreated that
scene. I decided to scratch-build as
this was the easiest way to create the
mishmash of farm buildings.
PLAN, PLAN, PLAN
The first step, was working out how big
the model should be. I used Photoshop
to scale the aerial photo for a 28mm
game on a 6’x4’ table. However, I real-
ised that if I were to scale the farm this
way it would occupy almost
the entire table, leaving
no room for the
surrounding terrain. I then tried scaling
everything down by 20%, but I soon re-
alised that they looked too small! I was
in a difficult position, trying to balance
scale and game playability. Then I had
an idea for a compromise – I scaled the
buildings down by 5%, but shrank the
courtyard by 20%. This worked well
– the footprint on the table wasn’t ex-
cessive, but the buildings still felt right
with the 28mm miniatures.
The finished farmyard
The finished buildings make for an
interesting gaming en-
vironment, with
National Collection of Aerial Pho-
tography (ncap.org.uk) has an aer-
ial photo of the farm taken in May
1944, which I compared with cur-
rent satellite imagery. This showed
me which buildings are post-war.
Historian Paul Woodadge showed
me some recent photos of the build-
ings from the ground, as well as a
photo of the farm taken just after the
battle. Armed with all this informa-
tion, I started planning the build.
a closed courtyard, multiple firing
points, ruins and several lines of ap-
proach. Accurately recreating
the farm helped me explore
the location's tactical chal-
lenges. The techniques I
used for the scratch-build
can be used to recreate any
buildings for your wargam-
ing table. WS&S

Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119

 CONSTRUCITON
1 2 3

First, I marked out the courtyard and buildings on a
large sheet of 3mm MDF and built the houses from
styrene sheet and 5mm foamex. I used a hot glue
gun to assemble the shell of the building and later
reinforced the joints with strong PVA.
I decided to use embossed styrene sheets on one of
the farm buildings, cutting the styrene to shape and
supergluing it to the foamex. I added some Polyfilla
in places, textured with a GreenStuffWorld roller, to
add some variety to the stonework.
The other buildings were mostly textured with Poly-
filla. I masked doors and windows with tape then
applied a thin coat, using a damp textured roller to
apply a pattern. I also constructed a chimney from
extruded polystyrene, capped with a 3D printed top.

4 5 6

I then glued textured wallpaper to the interior walls
and floors and added damaged joists and rafters of
balsa wood. Using card, I made window frames that
I coated with diluted Polyfilla. I textured the ‘dam-
aged’ foamex walls with a topping of sharp sand.
Whilst all this was drying, I moved onto the yard.
The walls (resin models from Debris of War) were
hot-glued in place, with the buildings guiding
their positions. I constructed gates from match-
sticks and coffee stirrers.
For the cobbled paths, I used textured wallpaper
and glued sharp-sand everywhere else, avoiding
the areas where the buildings will sit. I have a
homemade rubble mix and I glued a little inside the
buildings and in the yard.

PAINTING & FINISHING

7 8 9

After giving things 24hrs to dry, I undercoated all the
pieces outside. I used a grey enamel primer — the
coating serves to unify the build and provide a foun-
dation for painting over a mix of materials. It also
prevents the Polyfilla from absorbing too much paint.
Next, I applied base colours using both acrylics and
household paints in a variety of grey and brown
tones, picking out particular bricks to add variety. I
gave everything a wash using Flory clay washes. A
little dry-brushing finished it off.
The walls were weathered using brown and green
washes. I then stippled light brown paint along the
base of the model to help it blend with the terrain.
As the rooftops were burnt, I used black powder pig-
ment to add scorching to the wood and stonework.

10 11 12

The walls in the courtyard were painted as per
the buildings. For the ground, I used brown
emulsion and dry brushed lighter tones, then
painted the cobbled path in the same manner,
but with beige colours.
I then applied a mix of flock, fine turf and static
grass over the rest of the courtyard, glued in
place with PVA. Small areas of undergrowth
were made with Tajima1’s grassy tufts and
green bushes.
The walls and non-textured spaces on the base
guide where to place the buildings. Scatter ter-
rain (kindly donated by my friend Tom, but origi-
nally printed by Sabotag3d) provides additional
visual detail and makes it all feel more real.

Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119 67

 SCRATCH-BUILT HEDGES FOR THE WARGAME TABLE
HOBBY
HEDGING YOUR
BORDERS
This is my third magazine instalment detailing how I scratch-build
linear obstructions for the wargame table – in particular, how I built
model hedges for my gaming table. The two earlier articles detailed
By Tony Harwood
A
s with many of my model
builds, it started with an in-
ternet search, but in this case
I found myself sketching
hedges while watching TV
and it was these simple pencil sketch-
es that were the basis of these models.
I used 3 mm thick plastic card for the
bases and a well-used, second-hand
floor scrubbing or polishing disc as the
basic hedge materials. The floor scrub-
bing disc was given to me some years
ago, and although I have used small
sections in the past, the bulk of the disc
is still intact – very dirty, but still intact.
The bases were cut from plastic card
and trimmed with a large snap-off
bladed knife before having the edges
chamfered and sanded smooth.
68 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119
I added some
wooden lollipop
sticks to the bases. These lollipop sticks
help to avoid warping and give a slight-
ly raised area for the hedge sections to
be built upon, very much as real hedg-
es were constructed and grew.
I picked up these dried roots from a
charity shop some time ago – I be-
lieve they were intended for railway
modelling or flower arranging, but as
I don’t have any packaging, I am un-
able to offer any more information.
Sections of dried roots were glued
into place and the groundwork built
up with DAS modelling clay applied
over PVA glue to help adhesion and
cut down on shrinkage.
Additional plaster castings were glued
in place to imitate large rocks. The
DAS modelling clay covers the
lollipop sticks and helps to
MATERIALS USED
• 3 mm thick plastic card (old
advertising sign)
• Commercial scouring pad disc
• Lollipop sticks
• Dried roots
• Sieved stones, sand, and
sawdust
• Plaster castings (used for
some of the larger stones)
• DAS modelling clay
blend in the raised embankment, on
which I will later glue the hedges.
The groundwork was further textured
with sieved stones, sand, and sawdust,
which was glued over PVA glue and
then ‘flooded’ with water
to which either flow
improver
or plain
washing-up liquid has been
added. The sand and sawdust were
concentrated along the centre of the
bases to show how stones and clutter
would accumulate under the growing
hedges – exactly as in real life.
Sections of the scouring disc were
first cut and then trimmed with a pair
of scissors before they were pulled
apart. Try to avoid any flat or straight
edges. I glued the hedges into place
with my hot glue gun, ensuring that
the scouring pad sections were firm-
ly pressed onto the bases.
I would suggest that layers of £1 green
kitchen scouring pads could have been
used in place of the larger industrial
discs to achieve the same effect. The
scouring pads were used alongside the
dried roots to show both lush and dried
growth – as seen on older hedges.
PAINTING
The hedges and bases were
spray painted with a black ‘rat-
tle can’ paint. I tried
to add some con-
trast by airbrushing
a dark brown colour

1 2
Preparing the bases and adding lollipop sticks.
4 5
Next, stones and sand were glued to the base.
7 8
Each area was picked out in the appropriate colour.
to the groundwork – as plain black
hedges don’t photograph too well.
The groundwork was painted in Snake-
bite Leather and highlighted with some
light drybrushing. Individual stones
were painted with a basecoat of dark
grey and highlighted with grey and
finally pure white. Some of the larger
stones along the base of the hedge are
actually blobs of hot glue which, rather
than leaving as glue, I painted in the
same grey stones colour. I think they
work well, and this is another example
of making the best of a mishap.
I used a thick, dark-green tube acrylic
paint to highlight the upper edges of
the hedges, allowing the black spray
paint to remain along the lower edges.
Lighter green scatter material (railway
modelling scatter and some static
Dried roots make an interesting addition.
Pieces of scouring pad form the 'main' hedge.
Scatter was used to highlight the top of the hedge.
grass) was used to highlight the upper
surfaces of the hedges.
The bases were finished with more
scatter material, ground foam, and the
odd static grass tuft, which were glued
in place with a mixture of PVA and su-
perglue. The hedge sections range in
length from 210  mm to just 100  mm
long and between 18 mm and 30 mm
wide for the scouring pad hedges.
As with many of my model builds,
it started with an internet search,
but since there is quite a bit of
flexibility and variation possible
when it comes to something like
this, I soon found myself sketch-
ing hedges from my imagination
while watching TV. It was these
simple pencil drawings that were
the basis of my models.
Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119
CONSTRUCITON & PAINTING
3
Groundwork was built up using DAS modelling clay.
6
The entire base and hedge get a black base coat.
9
The base was finished with static grass and tufts.
I use these new hedges and the ear-
lier sections of walls and fences to-
gether on the gaming table. In fact, I
prefer to mix and match these pieces
of scatter material as I think they look
more organic when used in this way.
The hedges took about three hours to
make and about the same to paint,
although most of that was waiting for
the paint to dry! WS&S
INSPIRATION
69
LET’S PLAY

THE BRAND-NEW WWII COMMANDO STEALTH GAME

LET’S PLAY 02
HUNDRED HOURS
Cards on the table, I love playing sneaky-beaky stealth games. My
regular gaming friends will attest that I’m a big fan of randomized
factors, surprise events, and ‘the fog of war’, so I was very excited to
set up for a game of 02 Hundred Hours and start to do precisely that.

By Chris King

T
his new direction from Gra-
ham Davey is set quite firmly
in the genre of night raids dur-
ing the Second World War,
and whilst it has a clear focus
on North-West Europe, the reader is
reminded that they can transplant the
rules over to, say, the jungle or the de-
sert or other theatres. Mechanically,
this could work fairly well, but there
appears to be a subtle difficulty in do-
ing so: all the resources so far seem
to be rather one-sided. I don’t mean
imbalanced – it’s just that within what
we were sent for review, all the raid-
ers are British, and all the defenders
are German. It’s a little hard to see
how we could use their rules for a
night raid on Iwo Jima …
Part of the issue here is that in 02 Hun-
dred Hours each of the figures on the
tabletop has a corresponding ‘recruit-
ment card’ listing their in-game sta-
tistics, equipment, and special rules:
there doesn’t appear to be any
master list from which play-
ers can choose
fighters to make up their
force; players simply
have to have the
recruitment cards.
WS&S are told there
will be a ‘get-you-by’
army list available online.
The game achieves its aim pretty
well: it has a very definite focus on
sneaking around and trying not to
raise the alarm; a cover of pitch-
black darkness is assumed, which
accounts sufficiently for the ‘fog of
war’. I might have preferred neither
player knowing where the opposing
forces were, but that’s nigh impossi-
ble in gameplay like this, so the as-
sumed darkness works well.
Each ‘fighter’ has five abili-
ties outlined on their recruit-
ment cards – Aim, React,
Brawn, Smarts, and Guts –
which gov-
ern their relative
chances of suc-
cessfully carrying out actions
or reactions. The values used for
these are British-style rank chevrons
(one, two, or three) which are then to
be found in differing proportions on
the game’s dice. 02 Hundred Hours
uses two different unique six-sided
dice – white and grey – and these,
like the other tokens, chits, markers,
and different types of card, are also
included in the core set.
The gameplay mechanic will be
broadly familiar to anyone who
has played Mortal Gods or Test of
Honour: tokens are drawn blind
from a bag and enable alternat-
ing players to activate the relevant
fighters (officers are distinct from
other ranks and receive more acti-
vations); other tokens – ‘Time To-
kens’ – may also be drawn, and
these allow the players to draw ad-
ditional cards for random events
(the Defender) or
special orders
(the Attacker).

72 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119


Dogs are one of the defenders most useful, albeit sometimes unpredictable, assets in the game. Achtung!
Once the third Time Token is drawn,
the current turn ends and the board
is cleared of active markers. This sys-
tem does an enjoyable job of ramp-
ing up the time pressure: not know-
ing when the turn will end forces
players to prioritize their actions. The
disadvantage of pulling a Time Token
rather than being able to activate a
fighter is pleasingly offset by the spe-
cial event or special order gained,
and we were able to put a few of
these into effect.
Stealth really is the main flavour
of the game, and the custom dice
can generate ‘alerts’ or ‘stealth’ re-
sults for both players: in our game,
the German Heer officer generated
so many ‘alerts’ that we were con-
vinced he was patrolling his sentries
whilst playing the tuba.
At first, we found the custom dice
and chevron-based results of success
or failure a little frustrating, but the
chances of generating or negating an
alarm (the ‘alert’ and ‘stealth’ results
cancel each other out) did provide
a little frisson, as we imagined the
Defenders’ footfalls unwittingly
snapping twigs or an Attacker
pausing to stop his canteen
from rattling. The dice also have
‘medal’ symbols, which grant various
special rules depending on the task
being attempted.
From the start, movement is different
for the two players: Defenders can ei-
ther follow a prescribed patrol route
(simple! brilliant!) or they can be giv-
en the ‘roving patrol’ action, which
means they move a certain distance
in a fairly random direction – chev-
ron successes grant extra inches of
movement, and the direction can
also be chosen from the direction in
Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119
FUTURE PLANS & ADDITIONS
Hundred Hours will launch with a starter set
and two expansions that add metal character
figures and different gaming cards – one for
the Germans and one for the British. The plan
going forward is to introduce more forces and
countries in the same manner – French parti-
sans, Americans, Italians, etc. There may be
rules for different environments, such as the
deserts of North Africa or the jungles of Asia,
both distinct settings that saw many raiding
missions during the war. The jungle is particu-
larly interesting as dense foliage has the same
effect as darkness in terms of cutting down
the line of sight and weapon ranges.
In addition, there have been a lot of requests
for a fully solo version. It wouldn’t require too
much adjustment to come up with an AI sys-
tem for the defending sentries, so this is high
up on my list.
The author is also thinking about the possibility
of a ‘versus’ mode that uses the night-fighting
and alert system for a head to head battle. This
would allow players to bring the game’s sneaky
approach to a more competitive environment,
fighting out the result when two patrols bump
into each other in the darkness!
which successful chevrons are point-
ing (model facing is important).
For their part, Attackers mostly get
to ‘sneak’, although once they start
working out where the Defenders are
(as the Defenders generate ‘alert to-
kens’), they can also use the more ag-
gressive actions ‘advance’ and ‘fight’.
Once we got into the swing of this it
seemed to work okay – actions are
limited and modified by the proximity
of enemies and whether or not they
have ‘alert’ tokens. We did find it a
little odd that in the pitch darkness,
‘alert’ tokens still travelled with the
fighters, rather than being left where
73

Disabling a radar installation at night makes for a characterful mission for a crack team of carefully assembled infiltrators.
The job must get done cleanly: a discovered body will give the game away, so it must be disposed of right away.
the noise was occasioned, but so be
it. One issue we had was that we
could find no way for the fighters to
simply stay still and quiet: they seem
to be obliged to move in some way,
unless shooting. However, attack-
ers can freeze in place if they roll a
medal, or players can potentially just
avoid giving that model an action.
With regard to shooting, we enjoyed
the three-step phase: it worked well
and the chance of the target reacting
was interesting, as is the possibility
of them or those nearby receiving
‘trauma’, rendering
them less combat-
effective through penalizing their
future actions. Obviously, once the
bullets start flying there’s a far greater
chance of the alarm being raised, but
in true WWII experimental weapons
style, there are a number of special
‘quiet’ (not quite ‘silenced’) options
the Attackers may equip themselves
with, including Welrod pistols, su-
pressed Stens, and of course the
Commandos’ beloved DeLisle car-
bine. Or the raiders
might just use their
trusty knives: this is
up-close work.
Once the balloon
goes up, it might
just be time to let
rip with the big
bangs, and here
the players also have a choice of
noisier weapons, including sup-
port machine guns, sniper rifles,
and – err – rocket launchers. For
those players who like to have the
option of lobbing things around,
there are grenades too. Boom!
The special rules for all these
weapons seem well thought-
through within the game mech-
anism, and it’s a shame that – playing
the first introductory scenario – we
didn’t really get to experiment with
a broader range of them. To give you
an idea of weapon ranges, on an ad-
vised playing area of 3'x3’, a rifle has
a 20" range; a pistol or SMG is 10" ...
remembering that this is taking place
in pitch darkness. It does mean that
this game allows Attackers to take the
gamble of making a noisy distraction
in one part of the board to maybe give
them a route through elsewhere!
The full-colour rulebook is very at-
tractive and includes diagrams and
painted examples of gorgeous forth-
coming Wargames Atlantic 28mm
models as well as some slightly ster-
ile digital renders, but we found it
to be a little unintuitive: some sec-
tions are in alphabetical order and
some aren’t, and we had to do a
lot of page-flipping and cross-refer-
encing to pin down some rules. A
friendly potted history at the start is
bookended by six characterful mis-
sions and a handy quick reference
sheet at the back.
Overall, this is a pretty sound ruleset
with considerable potential. If play-
ers don’t mind having to buy into
game-specific dice, tokens, cards,
and expansion packs, 02 Hundred
Hours provides a decent self-con-
tained route into ‘secret-squirrel’
tabletop gaming that isn’t just a run-
of-the-mill shoot-’em-up, and I’m
all for that. WS&S
0200 HOURS
Authors: Graham Davey
Published by: Grey For Now Games
Format: 64-page rulebook, 8 custom dice, 80
cards, 108 counters, and 30 miniatures
Dice: Special-symbol D6s
Activation: Token-activated alternate turn
Price: £46 (starter set)
www.warlordgames.com
GAME REVIEWS
GAME REVIEWS
This Very Ground: Victory or
Death (2nd edition)
Rules for wargaming in North America
1672–1815
By Keith Stine
(Iron Ivan Games, 2022)
$25.00
D10, Initiative-based
alternate activation
This revised set of rules was released
as part of a Brigade Games Kick-
starter at the end of 2020 but has
now gone on general sale. The game
is designed to be played on a 6'x4'
gaming table, with the use of units
BOHICA
By Paul Eaglestone
(Partizan Press, 2021)
£18.50
D20 and D6, Initiative-based
alternate activation
BOHICA – or “Bend Over, Here
It Comes Again” – is a set of rules
covering the conflicts in Vietnam,
76 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119
New and recent wargaming rulesets, reviewed
by the Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy team.
of around fifteen men representing
and referred to as a platoon. A typi-
cal scenario will include some five
to ten such platoons. Basing is in-
dividual figures, who as units oper-
ate in one of three groupings – close
(touching), loose (almost touching),
and skirmish (within 2" of each oth-
er). Officers at company and battal-
ion level are represented by single
figures and have a command & con-
trol (C&C) influence. The primary
emphasis of the rules is on infan-
try units, but cavalry, cannon, and
boats are also covered.
The activation system is something
I haven’t seen before. Each side gets
a number of activation chits based
upon its officer (normal chits) and
the training and experience of its
troops (push chits). Activation chits
are spent to give a unit three com-
mand points, and it costs one com-
mand point to do such activities
as moving, shooting, and reload-
ing. A unit may share its command
points with nearby units. Activating
a unit alternates between players.
A ‘push’ chit can be spent to have
primarily covering the American in-
volvement in Indo-China.
The rules themselves use the base
mechanisms of Empress Miniatures’
Danger Close modern skirmish rules
using a D20 system, but they have
been heavily modified to reflect the
Vietnam War and have also been
streamlined to speed the games up.
The author identified the challenges
faced by many gamers, namely hav-
ing limited time to play and requir-
ing a game system that kept players’
attention. Re-playability was also
important; a game shouldn’t be-
come stale after a handful of plays.
The rules themselves are aimed at
platoon-level combat; they can han-
dle larger-scale actions of company
level and above, but with the caveat
that this level will be more cumber-
some and much slower to play to
a second activation before pass-
ing play to the opponent. From my
reading of the rules, a unit could be
activated multiple times within the
same turn. Officers are activated
once per turn for free, spending a
command point to do some special
actions such as rallying (removing
disruption markers) or regroup-
ing (saving broken troops), or us-
ing them normally on a unit within
their command range.
Units are rated for Marksmanship,
Valour, Courage, and Training and
Experience. Shooting is resolved
by the whole unit at a single target
with a result of misses, casualties,
or disruption markers. Additional
sophistication is added by such
things as volley and snap fire. Dis-
ruption markers are part of the C&C
system. Firing gives a unit a smoke
marker, and after three markers it
must spend a command point to
reload. Melee requires a charging
unit to pass a courage test; oppo-
nents may then run away as a result
of valour rolls. Each side then gets
to roll against its valour to inflict
conclusion. The system does allow
for smaller actions such as fire teams
rather than platoons.
Overall, the rules are well laid out
with a sensible approach to group-
ing similar items together – for ex-
ample, helicopters, air strikes, etc
are all together. The system itself
uses D20 and D6 dice, with the lat-
ter being modified with directional
arrows to allow for wind direction,
smoke, and so on. The pre-game
set-up is crucial to each wargame
as it is where the mission aims are
set out by the players (or an umpire)
as well as bespoke random events
for the game.
The core system is very straightfor-
ward and has a certain elegance to
its simplicity, with all units (or indi-
viduals if you want – but be warned,
this could add a lot to your admin!)

casualties on the enemy. Disruption
markers must be removed (either by
rallying using a command point, by
falling back, or via an officer) be-
fore the unit can do other activities
such as shooting or moving. Addi-
tionally, units with five disruption
markers will flee until rallied by an
officer or a drums and colours base.
There are no points values included
(although statistics for the various
units are) as I think the author as-
sumes that people will be fighting
either their own interpretations of
actual skirmishes or their own ideas
and thus don’t need points values.
There are four scenarios included,
ranging from 1675 (King Philip’s
War) to 1812.
The rules need careful reading to
understand the various aspects and
especially the C&C and disruption
system. My view is that a quick
reference sheet would be very
beneficial, along with an index or
glossary of terms referencing the
appropriate page.
– Chris Payne
having a Skills and Drills (S&D) rat-
ing going from 5 (special forces) to
1 (civilians), and this dictates quite
a bit, ranging from action points to
command radius etc. There’s a little
bit of addition and subtraction with
modifiers to the D20 roll but that’s
picked up easily enough.
In the game itself, units accrue
stress points, which represent the
wear and tear and general degra-
dation of units in combat; some
of these points can be removed
as situations change and some are
permanent. This is a very clever
system, and players can see their
units beginning to crack rather than
the sometimes instantaneous out-
come of a failed morale check! The
initiative system is unusual in that
it can be as extreme as one player
getting to move all their units be-
fore the other player, to a straight-
BY IAN BEAL, GUY BOWERS, EOGHAN KELLY, AND CHRIS PAYNE
Blitzkrieg Battlegames and
Blitzkrieg Battlegroups
Evenly matched scenarios for 1940
By Colin Rumford and Richard Marsh
(Rapid Fire Productions, 2022)
£20.00
D6, Alternate turn
Blitzkrieg Battlegames is a scenario
book for Rapid Fire covering the fall
of France in May 1940. The 64-page
book is full colour and a pleasant
read, covering a total of fourteen bat-
tles, plus some notes on relevant ve-
hicles and gun stats in the back.
forward IGO–UGO, and all sorts
of combinations. This I really liked
as it helped to create the feeling of
chaos and confusion that seemed to
pervade many combats in Vietnam.
The rules themselves are amazingly
comprehensive, covering the things
you would expect – helicopters,
fixed-wing air units, artillery, mine-
fields, booby traps, weather, and so
on. There are also things that are
frequently left out of rules systems
– such as the very clever spotting
rules, and rules governing unit be-
haviour. For example, ‘Free World
forces’ cannot fire speculatively
without triggering a scenario-spe-
cific random event, and NVA forc-
es cannot leave casualties behind.
I very much liked this concept to
govern unit behaviours as it applies
some restrictions to how players can
use their forces.
Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119
The book’s scenarios are very well laid
out, with inspiring colour photos and
wargames-friendly maps throughout.
You almost have everything you need
to play these games – except the forces.
The Battlegames book in the major-
ity of its scenarios refers back to units
and formations in Rapid Fire’s previous
book Blitzkrieg Battlegroups (priced at
£16); the one supplement is wholly reli-
ant on players having both. So, it made
sense for us to review both books at the
same time, as they are interlinked.
Rapid Fire Publications delivered us
a copy of Battlegroups in record time
(thanks Colin!).
Blitzkrieg Battlegroups is again very
well laid out and full of colour photos.
It gives details of several German and
Allied formations, pointed out to the
Rapid Fire points system. The units are
represented in graphics, so players lit-
erally know how many men, vehicles,
and tanks they will need for a particular
formation. While it could be argued that
these graphics do take up a lot of book
space, I personally like them. I also like
how they are costed, so you can take
There are several sample scenari-
os included that mix things up for
players, from jungle settings to air
landings and urban combat. Actual
orders of battle are used; the book
provides US marines and VC/NVA.
With a little research, other factions
could be added. No points costs are
used. Each scenario has a random
event table, which will make every
play-through different.
Overall, these rules are very com-
prehensive; they cover pretty much
everything you would expect to
see and also quite a few things you
only realized you needed when you
read them here! They are well writ-
ten, very well laid out, and have
some super illustrations. I strongly
recommend trying these rules out –
they are the best I’ve read in quite
some time.
– Eoghan Kelly
77
straight out of the book 400 points of
6th Panzer (with 35(t)s, of course!) and
pit them against 400 points of Division
Légère Mécanique. I also like the Rapid
Fire system, which gives you balanced
orders of battle (with a little ‘wriggle
room’ in army lists) rather than the ‘free
for all’ you can see in other systems. For
example, German players will struggle
to get a single 88 mm on the table, not
just be able to pick an entire battery of
them ‘because they can in the lists’.
I like historical lists with realistic
options and limitations, and Battle-
groups steers players into taking more
Renatio et Gloriam
Renaissance Wargames rules
By Simon Clarke and Alasdair Harley
(Plastic Soldier Company & Mortem et
Gloriam, 2022)
£12.50 for the PDF
MeG 'death dice', Card activation
Back in the mists of time there was
a ruleset called Mortem et Gloriam.
These rules were recently revised
and reprinted as a new edition with
army lists going up as far as 1500 or
so. The authors of this set decided
to expand the timeframe with a new
set of rules and lists based on the ex-
isting game engine. After all, MeG
was the first main ancients ruleset to
win an award in the Wargames Illus-
trated historical wargaming hobby
awards, and the mechanisms were
tried, tested, and liked.
Like MeG, ReG can be played in
three sizes of game, the small-
est, ‘Compatto’, being played on
a 90  x  60  cm table (all sizes refer
78 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119
historical lists while still keeping the
‘wow’ factor of picking and choosing.
So if I take 1st Panzer, then I can take
the 37th Panzerjäger battalion with a
single ‘Bufla’ self-propelled 88  mm.
There again, if I go for 7th Panzer, I
get the cool Panzer 38(t)s!
Now familiar with the Blitzkrieg Bat-
tlegroups book, I can look at Blitz-
krieg Battlegames in a new light. Each
scenario starts with the historical
background under the heading “What
really happened”. The scenario then
goes into the details of objectives,
victory conditions, and special rules
to 15mm figure scale) and hav-
ing about 10–20 bases per army.
‘Grande’ is played on a 120 x 90 cm
table and comprises about double
the number of figure bases. The larg-
est battle size is ‘La Rinascita’; the
armies here are usually 70–100 bas-
es strong and the game is played on
a table size of 270 x 180 cm.
As the game uses the CCC system fa-
miliar to every MeG player, you also
need the CCC cards and death dice
used in that game.
Terrain and movement are measured
in base widths. Combat is as per the
quick reference sheet; on Compatto
scale there is no base removal for cas-
ualties as these are tracked behind the
unit with markers or a die. A stand-
ard infantry unit with six wounds, for
example, could have three wound
markers and break on receiving its
fourth. Bases from a unit group are
only removed once it has broken.
I liked these rules and they have got
me digging out my old By Fire and
Sword minis and starting to paint
15mm again (thank heaven for the
eye operations last year, I can see
them again!). I don’t think I will
get past the Compatto size as they
seem ideal for a small table in my
wargames bunker and a good in-
tro size to drag friends kicking and
screaming into.
Think of Compatto, I guess, as a
DBA-size game but with (waits for
that apply. Terrain is covered, so each
feature and its effect is described. Fi-
nally, there’s the information on when
and where every individual unit will
arrive on the board. Players will have
to refer back to the Battlegroups book
for the specific units.
Overall, I was very impressed by
both books – you will need the pair.
While primarily for Rapid Fire gam-
ers, these army lists and scenarios
will be of interest to all 1940 gamers,
as the scenarios can be easily adapt-
ed with little work. Recommended.
– Guy Bowers
the screams of “Heretic!”) more real-
istic performance from the units. Let
me explain that a little more.
Armies have their own traits and
characteristics in these rules and
lists. They can benefit from great
men who have abilities such as
returning to the battle having
shrugged off a wound, like Crom-
well at Marston Moor. There are
various other traits that influence
the commander and troops, so each
army feels different. If an army uses
its historical tactics it should have
its historical outcome.
Forts and camps are covered, so
these rules are a complete set of Re-
naissance rules. I have not covered
the mechanisms as such as they are
basically additions and clarifications
to the MeG set to make them expand
into the period, which in my opinion
they do beautifully.
In conclusion, this is an excellent
set of rules with the added feature
(for those of us advancing in years)
that if you know MeG then you
know this system and can start play-
ing with little or no need to learn
new rules. The new formations and
tactics are easy enough to pick up.
The army lists have enough variation
that anyone interested in the period
will find something there to enthuse
them. In short, go and buy them and
play them – they very much deserve
it and give an enjoyable game.
– Ian Beal
 BOOK REVIEWS
BOOK REVIEWS
Yugoslav Armies 1941–45
By Nigel Thomas and Dusan Babac;
Illustrated by Johnny Shumate
ISBN: 978-472842039
(Osprey Publishing, 2022) - £11.99
This book covers the factions in Yugo-
slavia sympathetic to the Allied nations.
(see Men-at-Arms 282 Axis Forces in
Yugoslavia for the other side).
There is one map, which attempts to
represent the various annexations and
The Rif War Volume 1: From Taxdirt to
the Disaster of Annual 1909–1921
By Javier Garcia de Gabiola
ISBN: 978-1915113559
(Helion & Company Ltd, 2021) - £16.95
If you want a thorough introduction to
the Rif War in North West Africa during
the first decades of the last century, this
title from Helion’s Africa@War range is
a gem. Its scope is just as outlined in its
subtitle, and it has a voice of detailed,
confident authority throughout.
I was a little underwhelmed upon first
picking up this volume. I felt it lacked
80 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119
A roundup of recent books on wargaming,
or of special interest to the wargamer.
occupations by Axis forces. Coverage is
of the Royal Army, Chetniks, and Peo-
ple’s Liberation Army (loosely Commu-
nist). I use the term ‘loosely’ because
there were non-Communist partisans.
Indeed, the text explains that at times
Russia sought to minimize its display of
support and forbade the wearing of red
stars and the like.
The subjects covered are the Royal
Army during the April war of 9–18
April 1941, followed by its service in
the Middle East to 1945, and then the
partisan armies of the Yugoslav Army
of the Homeland (Chetniks) and the
People’s Liberation Army (Commu-
nists). I would estimate that the con-
tent is split 40% on uniforms, 40% on
service history, and 10% on orders of
battle. The plates cover a mixture of
general rank offices, field and junior
officers, and lower ranks, split fairly
evenly between the three subjects. I
feel the accompanying photographs
complement the plates well.
physical presence and heft – but even a
cursory flick through was reassuring: it
is absolutely packed with text and im-
ages. The format and layout give it more
the feel of a special-edition magazine
than of a history book, which does it
a disservice, as Garcia de Gabiola’s
research and evident passion deserve
something more substantial, especially
given the price tag.
Luckily, the book is generously illus-
trated throughout. I cannot commit to
‘lavishly’ illustrated, for sadly many of
the supporting photographs have been
reproduced in a way that makes them
appear pixelated. This is a pity and de-
tracts from the joy of browsing what are
clearly quite rare and unique picturess.
The maps vary a little in quality but
generally support the text well.
Garcia de Gabiola delves into real
depths of detail. We are offered in-
sights into the campaign and tactical
decisions made by those in charge
as well as more vivid recollections
from eyewitnesses and commentary
on the soldiery themselves, although
There is one plate and two charts on
rank insignia including the various
titles, which I would have liked to
have seen earlier in the book as the
author uses the culturally appropriate
naming throughout. Gamers will find
much inspiration in the illustrations.
With the partisan organizational unit
being the ‘detachment’ of anything
from 50 to 100 combatants, and
equipment being anything that could
be acquired or supplied, there is little
detailed low-level information. There
are tantalizing glimpses of subjects
I would love to know more about,
such as the 1st tank Brigade with
50 M5 Stuart tanks, partisan artillery
batteries, and ski troops.
At only 48 pages this book must be
regarded as a primer, albeit a fas-
cinating one and available in the
English language. The bibliography
only lists four books, all of which are
clearly not in English.
– Chris Payne
this is tempered at times by slightly
discomfiting generalizations.
There are four pages of colour plates,
including a detailed full-page map,
six gorgeous profiles of combat air-
craft, and four studies of combat-
ants’ dress based on original photos,
which complement Garcia de Gabri-
ola’s excellent attention to period de-
tails, but which also include a gratui-
tously grisly image. An odd choice.
The contents listing suggests a clear,
chronological path through the war,
but the writing itself is rather less linear:
Garcia de Gabriola’s account jumps
around in time, gets bogged down in
diversions, and lurches suddenly to the
discussion of aviation in the conflict,
when a more clearly discrete section
might have worked better. The prose is
somehow both a little dry and a little
soupy, but the content is fascinating.
Garcia de Gabriola's thorough over-
view is marred by design and edito-
rial choices, but is well worth a read.
– Chris King

The Viking Siege of Paris:
Longships raid the Seine, AD 885–86
By Si Sheppard
ISBN: 978-1472845696
(Osprey Publishing, 2022) - £14.99
This 80-page book puts the Siege in
context. The first twenty pages cover
the context of Viking raids (with what I
feel is a very informative map of raids
and campaigns from 880 to 892) and
the political and military organization
of the Carolingian state that opposed
Arras Counter-Attack 1940
By Tim Saunders
ISBN: 978-1473889125
(Pen & Sword, 2022) - £12.99
I thought I had some idea of the Allied
counter-attack at Arras in 1940. It was
an Allied defeat and Rommel saved the
day with 88s… and yet the actual story
of how Arras unfolded was far more fas-
cinating, and its consequences on the
campaign made me begin to wonder if
it really was that much of a failure.
The book opens by explaining both
the German and Allied approaches
BY GUY BOWERS, CHRIS KING, AND CHRIS PAYNE
them. The next ten pages set out the
military and political background as
to why Francia was targeted.
Then, 30 pages cover the eleven-
month siege itself. There is a map of
the larger Paris area showing other
Viking and Carolingian activity. The
three plates portray key events dur-
ing the siege. There is also a bird’s-eye
view of the city and immediate envi-
rons, showing key movements and ac-
tions during the siege.
A final ten pages cover the political
aftermath; a further reading list that
is nicely split between contemporary
sources, Carolingian, and Viking;
and a one-page index.
The photographs I found to be of very
mixed usefulness. Many of the Viking
photographs (such as the Oseberg ship
– which appears three times) and the
Viking swords in the Metropolitan Mu-
seum of Art have had so much expo-
to the lessons of the Great War and
the development of armour and com-
bined arms. Each side’s developments
in warfare are looked at in detail; they
serve to underscore how and why the
events at Arras unfolded.
The next section of the book narrates
the German attack on Belgium and
France and describes the march to the
sea. It was interesting to read of the
friction between the generals on the
ground and the German High Com-
mand. Rommel comes under a fair bit
of criticism for exaggerating his role.
The Allied response to the German
attack is looked at and (rightly) criti-
cized, noting that the issues the Al-
lies were suffering stemmed in part
from how their approach to com-
mand and mechanized warfare was
dated – they had not grasped the idea
of combined arms as the Heer had,
and they were now paying the price.
The actual Arras attack is described in
some detail, including how woefully
poor the British armour was, given it
Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119
sure elsewhere as to be almost passé;
I guess they have to fill the book with
something Viking related. However,
someone picking this book up with lit-
tle or no prior knowledge of the period
will find such photos extremely use-
ful, especially given the quality of their
subjects. The Carolingian ones (gen-
erally of manuscripts as the Christian
Franks did not bury people with grave
goods) were mostly new to me, and it
was nice to see that there had been lit-
tle re-use (if any) of photos that have
appeared in other Osprey publications
on the Carolingians. These along with
the plates are very informative for the
Carolingian gamer.
Overall, I found this book an enjoy-
able read and source of informa-
tion (especially of Carolingian army
structure and politics) and a good ba-
sis for an Early Middle Ages themed
campaign. Recommended for Caro-
lingian SAGA gamers.
– Chris Payne
consisted primarily of scout tanks and
Matilda 1s, with piteously few Mat-
ilda 2s. There is a lot of ‘meat’ here
for gamers to turn into scenarios …
spoiler: replace those 88  mms with
105  mm howitzers and you might
be closer to the truth. The poor com-
munication and logistics and lack of
combined arms with the tanks, infan-
try, and artillery are discussed at some
length. The oft-neglected French role
at Arras is also covered well.
The aftermath of the battle also makes
fascinating reading and has changed
my opinion of Arras completely. As for
the how and why, well … you’re just
going to have to read the book! It also
reinforces the idea that proper Allied
organization might have resulted in a
very different 1940 campaign.
The book is illustrated throughout,
and the text makes for good reading.
It may be a little light in places – but
this helps make the book a good
read, not a hefty ‘blow by blow’
manual. Recommended.
– Guy Bowers
81
 PARTING SHOTS
PARTING SHOTS
The last hurrah – with tips, tricks
and laughs for every wargamer
PARTING SOCKS
I like using terrain mats in my games,
and there are plenty of good manu-
facturers making mats for gamers. By
themselves, mats are by their very
nature flat; now if there were only a
quick and easy way of making them
irregular and uneven on the board …
books are fine but slightly too rec-
tangular; they are also quite heavy.
Here’s a simple solution: use socks!
The socks laid out on the table.
BRUSH CARE
Like I’m sure most wargamers, I tend
to be negligent of my paintbrushes. It
is entirely accidental; I don’t think any
painter deliberately goes out of their
way to ruin their brushes. My worst
mistake is putting down a brush with-
out washing it out, leaving the paint
to dry. A more common mis-
take is leaving the brush
head-down in the paint
water pot. That tends to
let the brush settle and
reshape, ruining the
head. Many brush-
es come with plas-
tic head protectors,
so I should just clean
off the brush and put it
82 Wargames, soldiers & strategy 119
FAST-FOOD STORAGE
I tend to have sev-
I use a bunch of socks and scatter
eral projects on
them on the table. Tee shirts are an
the go at any one
alternative. This method creates ir-
time. I also need a
regular undulations in the terrain
quick way to tidy
under the map. Socks are flexible
up my wargames
enough to allow troops to rest when
‘works in progress’
put upon them. This lightweight so-
so other people
lution can also double as packing to
can use that space.
keep your models secure in transit.
So, I’ve come up with
– David Frederick
a simple idea of using old takea-
way tubs for quick storage. This
way, I can carry on working with
several projects and not lose any
pieces. Now you may ask what
do I do about individual parts,
such as say a machine gun crew
– I use individual plastic bags to
store these and place those in
the containers. I don’t get takea-
Covered with a cloth to make irregular terrain. ways at all often, but I’ve found a
growing need for more contain-
ers. Thankfully, they are cheap
enough in supermarkets. In a
back in its protector, but I have a nasty way, it is also good recycling –
habit of losing these. So, I have adapt- these containers are often just
ed a ‘brush tray’ from an old fast-food thrown away.
container, which keeps my brushes – David Davies
upright and their heads off the sur-
face, meaning they keep their shape
longer.The basic design of the ‘Guy A HERO'S DEATH
Mark 1 brush holder’ is an old fast- Even the best brushes
food container. I’ve cut notches in one have to be put out to
pasture at some point.
edge, which stops the brushes from However, you don't
sliding from one side to the have to let their sacri-
fice be in vain: espe-
other. I can also quickly cially larger brushes
identify which brush with longer hairs can
I need for the next be repurposed for ter-
rain making and basing. Just snip off a bunch
job or leave them of hairs and turn them into a nice clump of
to dry, knowing they tall, dry grass on a model base. Obviously,
this works best with brushes that you've
won’t lose their shape. managed to keep somewhat clean!
– Guy Bowers