Bonny Lads - Tricorn and Bonnet AAR

This past weekend I played a game of Tricorn and Bonnet over at Kelly's place (with Rocky GMing). These are period-specific rules for the about-50 year periods of the Jacobite Uprisings, with the two sides playing fairly distinctly; the Jacobites aiming to Highland Charge their way to victory, while the Government forces hope to be the rocks the clansmen dash themselves against.

Rocky's scenario was a generic battle between the two sides (a Battle of Àite Sam Bith, if you'll allow), with exemplary forces. 

The Jacobite army, led by Bonny Princes Charles himself, consisted of a mass of Highlanders, a few battalions of Lowland militia, a pair of French infantry battalions, a scattering of Scots horse, and a few light artillery pieces. 

The Government army featured a mass of redcoated infantry battalions of varying quality, proper cavalry, and better artillery. 

You might notice the miniatures look a bit flat, and you'd be right! Rocky decided to use WoFun Games' line of 18mm preprinted flats for this project. His additions of flocked bases and painted sides added enough to make the flats look convincing if you were behind or in front of them (though the illusion was a bit shattered if you sat at the side of the table!). 

The Jacobites had split their Highlander battalions into two commands, one of which was supplemented by the Scots horse. This tartaned line cautiously approached the Government forces while artillery from both sides fired into the opposing body of troops. 

The last Jacobite command, consisting of the Lowland militia and French loan-infantry, held down the left flank. The Government horse brigade was spread out over a wide distance, allowing the infantry to squeeze together. 

The Government cavalry decided to attack the potential weak spot in the Jacobite line - where the Scots horse filled the gap between the advancing Highlanders and the defending Lowlanders. 

In an unexpected series of combats, the Jacobite horse actually managed to fend off the Government attackers! 

Meanwhile, an initial assault by the Highlanders had less desirous results. Unimpressed by the hollering men in kilts, the Government battalions held firm and delivered devastating platoon fire into the Jacobite infantry. 

In Tricorn and Bonnet the featured tactic of the period, the Highland Charge, works via an Intimidation test taken the first time a Government unit is charged by a Highlander unit. If it passes, the unit no longer needs to worry about being Intimidated for the rest of the battle. If it fails, then there's a number of potential cascading effects that reduces the units close-combat ability in the ensuing melee. 

Highlander units also drop their muskets during a charge, so the units lose any ranged capability unless they walk back to where the musket lay. Which is unlikely during the middle of a battle!

If the Highland Charge works, it can potentially mean a devastating series of setbacks for the Government units in the fight. If it doesn't, it's likely that the Highlanders are going to be cut to pieces before they can close. 

Case in point; while the Highlander line was advancing, one unit took too many hits and ended up being the first to rout from the battle.

However, the next set of charges ended up going much better for the Jacobite right flank, forcing a Government battalion into routing. 

In the center, Jacobite and Government cavalry continue to battle while the main body of Government infantry guard their supporting artillery. 

And the Lowland troops continue a starting contest with a few units of Government cavalry. 

The general melee on the Jacobite right continued, with the balance swinging in the Jacobite's favor. 

Highlander battalions also pressed the attack against the Government center. But the defenders in the fields and villages presented a difficult nut to crack and drove off a unit of Highlanders. 

The melee by the woods saw the last of the Government forces routed from the table, but at a bloody cost of most of the Jacobite troops. The remaining units were worn, had no muskets, and were unlikely to do much else. 

In the center, a good round of combat saw the Highlanders punch a hole into the Government lines. But other supporting Highlander units were pushed back. 

And at the last moment, the Lowland troops began advancing to attack the Government cavalry and infantry.

We had to end the game there due to time, with the Jacobites gaining a pyrrhic victory.  

A demonstrative combat between the French regulars and the Government horse revealed that the Lowland brigade could have been more active, as unsupported small units of cavalry would be unlikely to be a threat to fresh troops, even militia units. 

As usually, Rocky put on a great game, and hopefully we'll see more of Tricorn and Bonnet in the future. 

Painting Update - WWII Planes

Now that I'm finished with my Historicon posts, here's a look at what I've been painting since my last update.

My main hobby effort has been going towards 1/600 WWII aircraft, focusing on "Big Week", or Operation Argument, in February, 1944. This was the effort by the Allies' air forces to cripple the Luftwaffe prior to the invasion of Normandy later that year.

Last year saw the release of the up rules Fire in the Sky, which captured my attention due to it's focus on fast playing, squadron-level aerial combat. It seems like every other aerial combat game focuses on the few seconds in a dogfight where individual planes come into contact. Big Week looks at the "longer" (entire minutes!) engagements, with squadrons engaging, bouncing, and disengaging.

As the first rulebook for Fire in the Sky focuses on Big Week, the center of every scenario is three squadrons of B-17 bombers, which act as the objectives for the German players to shoot down. 27 B-17s looks fairly impressive on the table!

The Big Week scenarios call for a variety of Allied fighter squadrons, with a few scenarios needing two squadrons (six stands) of P-47s

As well as two squadrons of P-38s.

And to round out the USAAF planes, three squadrons of P-51s.

All of the planes are from Pico Armor, and have mostly been 3D printed. While lighter than the metal models that they used to be, they also come with the printing supports still attached. I had several models break - especially the tiny structures of the P-38s - that required gluing or entirely new models. 

The Battle of Guilford Courthouse, 1781 - Live Free or Die AAR

My last game at Historicon was the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, using Live Free or Die, and run by Pat.

This is a scenario I have experience running, as it was what we played using Washington's Wars back when I was in New Jersey.

Pat had been running the Southern Theater over the weekend, with the result that Tarleton's Light Dragoons wouldn't be appearing in this version of the battle. 

There were some further additions to the rules introduced by Pat, such as the use of buck and ball by units of both sides and effective ranges for musket and rifle fire. This led to an overall increase in lethality. 

The British goal was to inflict more losses on the Americans to score a minor victory, and to capture the two road exits on the opposite side of the table as well for a major victory. Any other result would count as an American win.

I was one of two American commanders, and there were two British commanders. 

The game began with the British encountering the first line of American militia. 

The militia were pushed, though not without some fallen redcoats in return. 

To stymie the British, Harry Lee and his light horse launched an assault on the British right flank. Unfortunately, even with favorable odds, the cavalry were repulsed. 

Both sides continued to move and fire. Occasionally a unit was able to halt and fire and volley, or the British decided to launch a charge. 

The American position began to falter somewhat as the first line of militia met the second and tried to move through. 

The Americans did managed to sneak a unit of militia through a gap in the British line, using them to fire upon the redcoats' rear. 

Realizing that having a rebel unit, even a small one, dealing damage in their back lines was a problem, the British quickly routed the militia. 

Having swapped a good part of their lines, the fresh American militia waltzed right into British volley fire. 

At the very last moment, the Continentals stepped off so they could show the British just how well they marched in step. 

The game ended with a decisive American victory, though one with an asterisk. While the Americans caused more casualties overall, I only realized a day later that I and the other American player missed that units moving backwards only do so at half speed. While slower movement would have still kept the British from approaching the two road exits by the end of the game, there's a chance that being forced to stay closer to British units would have results in more American casualties. 

Regardless, Pat ran a fun game, and it was a great way to close out my time at Historicon. 

The Battle of Kutná Hora, 1421- To the Strongest! AAR

A not-so-decent night's sleep (it turns out city center is fairly noisy, and my rental was right next to some sort of municipal building that really wanted me to know it was 3am with its bells) was fixed with a decent cappuccino and an Italian sausage and egg bagel from the Italian bakery next door. Somewhat revitalized, I rocked up on Saturday morning for my morning game; refighting the Battle of Kutná Hora with To the Strongest.

James, the GM, changed the scenario to a defensive siege rather than the charging column that historically saw the Hussites win the battle.

As a fun coincidence, Ted (from the New Jersey gaming group) had also signed up for the game. 

Jan Žižka and his Hussites were deployed atop a hill, their armored war wagons bristling with handguns and crossbows. Supporting the war wagons were a few units of infantry, cavalry, and light artillery.

Surrounding the Hussites was a sea of Catholic forces, with a mix of infantry and cavalry. The most dangerous units were the lance-armed, heavily-armored knights of the nobility. 

The game began with the Catholic forces advancing. The two commands facing the Hussite center had the furthest to go, while the flanking forces were relatively closer. 

Thanks to the seating arrangement, Ted was commanding the Hussite forces opposite my Catholic battalions. 

While the war wagons didn't have traditional flanks that could be attacked for an advantage, the Catholic commanders agreed that the weakest part of the Hussite positions were the spaces where the wagons could be charged on the side. 

Combat started with some desultory fire on both sides. I was hoping to place some Disorder markers on the war wagons before engaging in close combat. 

The Catholic commanders on the other side of the table had the same idea; try to crack the war wagon line where it intersected

While I was able to put a few hits on Ted's wagons, they were able to rally back to normal. Their guns, armored cover, and supply of ammunition meant that I was likely to lose a longer ranged engagement, so I instead decided to charge in. My Noble command (with four units of knights) began shifting to the right. 

And in a stroke of luck, one of the war wagon sections was demolished by a charging unit of Nobles!

Their charge was immediately halted by a failed flank attack on a group of Hussite spearmen.

Another breach was made in the wagon line in the Hussite's center, but the attackers had taken casualties and lacked the heavy cavalry to exploit the exposed position.

Hussite spearmen and Catholic cavalry clashed in the corner of the battlefield. Hussite reinforcements hurried to cover the two breaches made in the wagon line. 

My commands were quickly losing troops as they broke upon the Hussite rocks. 

And not too long after that realization, the game ended! It was a solid Hussite victory, with the Catholic Germans losing too many troops to continue.

All in all, a very fun game, and it was great to roll dice against Ted. 

The Battle of Jaffa, 1192 - Lionheart AAR

My second game at Historicon was a refight of Jaffa, 1192. It was run by Chris Grau, who was the GM behind the amazing Battle of Helm's Deep at Fall In a couple years back. 

Chris was using his own rules, currently titled "Lionheart". Originally based on Little Wars TV's mass battle version of Ravenfeast, Chris has worked to make his own product that provides a fun game for mid-to-high medieval battles. 

The scenario saw two armies, Crusaders and Ayyubids, clash outside the walls of the besieged city of Jaffa. Richard the Lionheart, King of England led a force of British, French, and Italians against Saladin's force of Turks, Egyptians, Bedouins, Syrians, and others under the Ayyubid Empire's control. 

The Crusaders' two commands consisted of heavy spearmen, crossbowmen, mercenaries, and just two units of mounted knights (one apiece). The Ayyubids' three commands had some slightly-less armored lancers, lightly-armored spearmen, and plenty of light cavalry. I was given control of Saladin's command in the center of the Ayyubid lines.

The battle began with an aggressive push on the Ayyubid's left, with a unit of light cavalry making its way through the suburbs of Jaffa to try and capture the Crusaders' headquarters tent (worth a victory point). Richard's knights were attacked on multiple sides by Ayyubid lancers and horse archers.

The main bulk of the Crusader infantry advanced in a line, but the French command on the left was forced to open a gap as the Ayyubid right shifted outwards in a potential flanking maneuver.

In a reversal of historical events, Richard was dragged from his horse and captured early in the game. 

Stunned by the lost of their king and commander, the Crusader's right flank was then overrun, the heavily armored infantry swarmed by Ayyubid spearmen and cavalry. The loss of their headquarters was an additional hit against the Crusaders' morale. 

On the other side of the battlefield, the lines had broken up into a series of smaller engagements. One-on-one, the odds were in the Crusaders' favor. 

The heavy armor and arms of the Crusaders kept the French commander alive as Ayyubid light cavalry launched multiple failed attacks.

Hoping to counter the use of the Ayyubid's reliance on cavalry, the center line of the Crusader infantry deployed stakes. These defenses then had to be abandoned as the situation on the flanks grew more dire and the Crusader infantry advanced to try and come to grips with Saladin's division. 

Two units of Knights Templars, arriving late to the battle, momentarily put some pressure on the Ayyubid right flank. However, a trio of absolutely devastating dice rolls resulted in three Crusader infantry units routing in a round of combat. Hopelessly outnumbered, those Crusaders still mounted turned to flee, leaving the infantry to the mercy of the oncoming Ayyubids. 

Ouch! A few early losses by the Crusaders put them on the backfoot from the start, and the greater numbers and mobility of the Ayyubids allowed them to pick the most advantageous combats where needed.

I did enjoy Chris' rules and I will get a copy for myself when they're available. His 10mm miniatures were fantastic to look at (especially the tiny cityscape of Jaffa), and very inspiring for a potential Al-Andalus project with these rules.