Siege of Augusta, '96

In early January, Chris Hughes and I traveled to Augusta, GA for the Siege of Augusta. Jim Birdseye took very good care of us. The dealer area was well represented and quire impressive for a convention of this size. Between Chris and I we ran four separate games over Friday and Saturday so we really didn't get an opportunity to spend much time wandering around looking at the other games. We were awarded the best of show for the games we put on and Chris took 1st place in the painting competition.

I didn't get a chance to speak to Jim Birdseye about attendance, but in talking to others who had been at previous conventions, attendance was as much or higher. In addition to the good time we had in Augusta, Chris and I also had something of an adventure leaving on Sunday into the face of the first major winter storm to hit the east coast. Driving back to Raleigh in freezing rain, sleet and snow gave us plenty of time to rehash the weekend. Several hundred pounds of lead in the back of the station wagon did help us with traction once we hit the snow.

Great Northern War Continued...

At Augusta I continued on research for the new period. I spoke to several gamers about the Malbourian period. There was even a Battle of Narva game scheduled, but I didn't have a chance to see it played. As usual, when you talk to five different wargamers about a period, you can expect to get five different opinions about just about everything from figures to rules. For the most part I determined that 1 5mm was preferred over 25mm and that the battles and campaigns of western Europe were much more popular than the Great Northern War. One wargamer put it simply, the Great Northern was too limiting, pitting Russia/Saxony against Sweden, while the War of Spanish Succession involved many more nationalities. Given that we have decided to do the period in 25mm, I would rather have a limited theater than a more expansive one.

Research has been proceeding. I picked up Osprey's campaign series book on Poltava and David Chandler's Warfare in the Age of Malborough. I also looked at Charles Grant's book on the Malbourian period. Grant's book suffers from the same Western European orientation and focus as Chandler's work. While Chandler's book does provide a good general overview of Malbourian warfare, scant attention is paid to the nuances of warfare in the east. Grant's book has some interesting uniform information, particularly for Saxony and Brandenburg (Prussia) that could be used for the Great Northern theater.

I had the opportunity to speak to Jim Brokaw about the Great Northern War at our local convention last November. Jim was good enough to send me his copy of Pat Condray's excellent book on the Swedish and Russian armies of the Great Northern War. Condray's book provides an in depth examination of the organization, uniforms and flags of the two armies. Osprey's Poltava is another valuable contribution to our research, providing a good overview of Charles XII's campaign against Russia. It also provides some uniform information and descriptions of small battles that led up to Poltava, complete with orders of battle and maps. Osprey's two books, Infantry and Cavalry of Peter the Great provides supplemental information about Russian uniforms.

We have been able to supplement some of this information from a thorough review of back issues of Wargames Illustrated, which provided us with a series of interesting articles on various aspects of the Great Northern War.

We have also been reviewing our options for figures. The Great Northern War poses some problems with regard to figures. Since most of the focus has been on the Western European theater the figures available are largely designed for those nationalities. Some of the differences include the need for pikemen, the unique design of Swedish coats and the headgear of both Russians and Swedes. Pikes, which had been largely abandoned in Western Europe were still part of the organization of both the Russians and Swedes. Their numbers as a proportion of the total unit differed depending upon the year, but it is safe to assume that approximately 25% of any given infantry unit was pike armed. Swedish coats differed from the standard coats of the period in that the fronts were turned up revealing the lining. Both the Swedes and Russians wore caps in addition to the standard cocked hat, the Swedes wearing a korpus, while the Russians donned a polkaman.

So far we have determined that 25mm Malbourian figures are available from several sources. Wargames Foundary has a line of figures that includes several figures, including pikemen, identified as Swedes. They also have Russian and Swedish figures in korpus/polkaman. Dixon has available the Grand Alliance line which is extensive but generic. While it does include pikemen, it does not have separate Swedes and Russian. The same can be said of the Old Glory figures, some of which I have had an opportunity to examine. Those that I saw would not work for Swedes because of the design of the coats, although we might be able to use some of them for Russians. Some of the Old Glory grenadiers and cavalry might also be usable. We will be taking a look at all these figures at Cold Wars in March. Now, if we could just find a set of rules!

Cold Wars, 1996

The HMGS Cold Wars preliminary events listing showed up yesterday. I must say, that as a frequent critic of previous HMGS preliminary events programs, I think this one merits some praise. There are about 56 events, games, lectures, etc. listed for just Friday and another 72 listed for Saturday. In addition to a reasonable crop of Napoleonic games there are several others that caught my interest, including a Poltava mini-campaign. They will be using Festung Krieg rules, which I have heard of but never seen played. I will be interested in seeing how the organizers handle the campaign portion of the game. I'll only be able to play on Friday, since I'm scheduled to run two games on Saturday. Now if the weather will just cooperate!

1813 Campaign

It's official the campaign is over! The starving French have sued for an armistice within sight of the church spires of Berlin. We proved that you can loose all the battles and win the war.

Books

I've just finish reading Military Life Under Napoleon by Captain Elzear Blaze, translated by John Elting. This is a fascinating look at the day to day life of a Napoleonic soldier. Blaze provides a multitude of details about training, and camp life, including an interesting critique of the various countries he march through. Blaze's military included the 1809 Austrian campaign and service in Spain. It is interesting to note that Blaze's of ficial military record shows he deserted from Hamburg in 1814. I won't try and describe too much of the book, which sometimes suffers from too many details. So many details, that translator Elting must occasionally note that he has left out several pages of passages that provided uninteresting details about persons or places. Elting has done a good job in his translation, but just as with his previous Swords Around the Throne, he has a tendency to use military jargon that overshadows the details. For example, I now know, I think, that a "shavetail" is a raw recruit.

Two interesting details about my favorite marshal, Davout. I don't remember where I read the story, but another Napoleonic veteran had ridiculed Davout' s near-sightedness, to the point of telling a story about how he was addressing a regiment, with his back to the enemy and apparently didn't notice that the enemy was advancing. An embarrassed and somewhat shaken aide had to interrupt Davout to tell him he was about to be overrun. Blaze puts another spin on what may have been happening, if the story is even true, by describing that the ultimate insult a French officer could extend to the enemy was to give the impression that they had no respect for them and the best way to do that was to address your troops, with your back to the enemy! Blaze admits that he tried to do this as often as possible but always had to turn around. I suspect that Davout was trying to stiffen the resolve of his conscript regiments by following this practice...and it probably didn't hurt to be near-sighted. Blaze also believes that Davout and other French generals missed an opportunity in 1813 by not breaking out of their fortresses. He believes, as I have come to believe, that the combination of the troops from the major fortresses in the rear of the Allied armies was very possible and if successful, would have posed a serious threat to the Allies as they were pressing Napoleon's main army back into France. Elting includes a note indicating that he doesn't believe the French would have been successful and in any case even

Davout would not have risked Napoleon's wrath by taking the initiative to leave Hamburg. I agree Davout's lack of initiative did play a pivotal role, but you've got to ask yourself, what would Napoleon had done in Davout's place?

1777 Philadelphia Campaign

We end one campaign and begin another. I am hosting a play-test of a 1777 Philadelphia Campaign which I will present in this column over the next year. The campaign will use the Carnage and Glory American Revolution Strategic and Tactical systems. We'll try and resolve combat on the table-top where possible, otherwise we'll use the combat resolution feature of the software.

The campaign begins on August 25, 1777 when the brothers Howe, General and Admiral, appear of the coast of Maryland at Head of Elk. Washington's main army is concentrated south of Philadelphia, with two brigades just about to cross over the Delaware from New Jersey to join the main army. The American militia has been called out and is concentrating at various points, some of which are offboard.

The British dilemma is two fold. They must destroy the American army and capture Philadelphia, while trying to maintain an acceptable supply situation. The British have a comfortable amount of supplies with them as they land, but can only establish a base, which will generate new supplies at locations that can be supplied by the fleet. Initially that means the Head of Elk area. The British fleet can sail up the Delaware but the two forts, Mercer and Mifflin, south of Philadelphia will restrict naval access to the city until they are captured. The American's have numerous bases distributed around the theater and the British must try and capture several of them if they want to supplement their own supplies. Intelligence and partisan activity is set against the British, although it is minimal and will shift to the British favor if they win a major battle or capture Philadelphia.

On game day 1, Howe's first challenge is to off-load his troops. He had to decide in what order the individual brigades and supply trains would off-load. Because of the difficulty of the trip the 16th Dragoons must find remounts before engaging in offensive operations. It will take approximately 6 days once landed for the cavalry to become operational Howe orders Cornwallis' brigade offthe boats first. Once landed, Cornwallis has been ordered to Wilmington while Grey's brigade off-loads. All the initial off-loading took place under the eyes of American militia units. Washington has been sent messages. Bad weather, rain and fog, delays the off-loading process so that at the end of the first day Cornwallis is still at the landing site, waiting for his supply train and the artillery.

On game day 2, Cornwallis continued to organize his troops while parts of Grey's brigade off-loaded. Washington, who had been inactive on game day 1, ordered his cavalry to create a screen around Howe's landing site, and ordered the supply base at Head of Elk to retire to Wilmington, escorted by the militia in the area. Even though the British knew from Loyalists that Head of Elk was full of supplies Howe made no attempt to march the 5 miles and capture the base. American General Nash and Sullivan's brigades, which began the campaign 50 miles north of the main American army, were ordered south.

On game day 3 Cornwallis finally started out for Wilmington, pushing the American cavalry before him. The American supply base at Head of Elk was successful in getting away without mishap. During this period the lack of cavalry hurt British scouting. resulting in Washington getting detailed information about the progress of off-loading and all British movements.

On game days 4 and 5 the American main army finally beginning to stir, while the British continued to fan out from their landing site. At the beginning of game day 6 the British had occupied Wilmington with Cornwallis' brigade, while Grey's brigade was within five miles of Kennett Square. Knyphausen's brigade started out from Head of Elk, ordered to support Cornwallis at Wilmington. Knyphausen advanced towards the Delaware River, driving a regiment of American light horse back. The American cavalry crossed the Delaware River and lost contact with Knyphausen, who turned towards Wilmington. The American main army, 8,000 strong, lumbered out of Darby, headed west towards Valley Forge, while Nash's brigade was ordered south towards the main army and Sullivan's brigade was ordered to occupy and defend Philadelphia.

On game day 7 Grey marched to within five miles of Westchester, pushing back a regiment of American light horse. Cornwallis marched out of Wilmington, pushing General Pulaski and another American light horse regiment back along the Delaware River. Instead of following Pulaski Cornwallis marched towards Grey and ended the day adjacent to his command. Knyphausen pushed through Wilmington and ended the day within ten miles of Cornwallis. Washington ended the day within 15 miles of Grey and it looks like a major battle is looming.

The British know where Washington is, while Washington knows about Grey and Cornwallis, but isn't sure where Knyphausen is. If Washington moves to protect his supply base at Westchester he will initiate a battle with Grey and Cornwallis, with Knyphausen marching to support. I suspect that Washington will retire and wait for a better chance to strike, but who knows?

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© Copyright 1996 Hal Thinglum

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