A Special Operation - the Russian Invasion of California, 1864 - A Bodger's Guide to building an army no one knows about with figures that don't exist for a war that never happened

Well, it took an extra year to get it all together (see previous posts), but it's finally happening. The ships are sailing, in 2 weekends we will be playing an all weekend game - Union vs Russians and Confederacy. It will be in glorious Warlords Epic 13.5mm scale. Our reporters will be there of course, Daguerrotypes at the ready....

Above - Most of the Russian army ready to roll - Warlord Epic 13.5 mm scale with a few 12mm and 15mm figs

But there is no 1860's Russian army in the Warlord Epic boxed set so it had to be bodged. This is the "Bodger's Guide", from experience gained building an army. I have discovered these Big Rules, they may be useful for others thinking similar thoughts.:

(i) Its a lot easier to "bodge" at smaller scales, you have to look more closely to see the errors, for e.g. you cannot easily tell the difference between a black shako and a black tall fur Cossack hat at this scale. Also, just paint what you want to see over the figure at this scale. 

(ii) Dark colours make the errors even harder to see - Russian Dark Green is marvellous for this. 

(iii) The clipper and sanding file are your friends. The most obvious differences are headware - getting shakoes/hats etc to correct shape. Often this just meant clipping a bit off the top.  

(iii) For some reason, the Prussian Napoleonic uniforms are a shoo-in for so much of the later military fashions in the century (the "Landwher" Epic set with the Russian-like forage cap was my go-to, but the same is true of its cavalry), The Union ACW troops with kepis/caps are also very useful. Its annoying that the Warlord Epic Box set has mixed kepis and hats, but there you go. Beggars etc. 

(v) 12mm figures work OK if used with separate units, with a bit of spacing to get the models to similar height. Kallistra had a good range of ACW. Ditto old 15mm are OK but its hard to find the older, smaller figs. 

(vi) Flocking and Flags - big colourful flags and nice bases draw attention from the multiple liberties one has taken.

Big colourful flags - slightly overscale (18mm flags on 12.5mm army).  These are the flag elements of each infantry battalion and cavalry regiment

To be fair, the Russian army of this period is a bodger's delight as (i) they went through multiple simultaneous uniform changes - the official "Frenchification" of the headgear, and "Prussianification" of the uniforms, countered by the "Pan-slavism counterforce to use more traditional Russian gear; (ii) miserly investment / regimental resistance, so old gear was retained for a long time, (iii) it was all provided locally, so "standards" were not and finally (iv) in action, troops generally donned pragmatic not parade ground gear, e.g the Uhlan Czapka is covered in an oilskin bag which looks much a shiny shako at this scale, plus the fatigue cap (and fur headwear in winter) was far more often worn than official Big Hats.... 

Tactically, their evolution is interesting. Post Crimean War, they saved money by dumping all the Jaegers into the infantry regiments and then getting rid of lots of peasant troops, the idea being that all the infantry would be like Jaegers. In an army that believed deeply in "General Bayonet", that was always going to be a hard sell, and to reinforce it, in the Italian Wars the French - by moving fast, with "elan" - could bayonet Austrians before the Austrian could shoot them own with longer range rifle muskets as happened in Crimea. The Russians, Austrians and French took all this to heart, but the Austrians did not realise this pre-supposes slow reloading of a rifle, so "General Bayonet" came unstuck in 1866. The ACW had already hinted that General Bayonet may need retiring and the Russian raise new independent battalions of light infantry. They also pragmatically started to use unofficial "light companies" in the line usnits (manned mainly by ex Jaegers I'd bet) and these were pulled out the line into a dense skirmish screen - the "tsep" (chain) - before advancing. The other big change was converting all the Dragoons into mounted infantry - but still wanted them to deliver the big heavy-sabre charge. Apparently the Dragoons didn't really like being infantry, and shot from horseback with a modified infantry rifle, not a carbine, before charging.As always the Russians strongly believed in artillery and they focussed on updating it, but the sheer numbers in the artillery park and the usual parsimony meant new guns arrived slowly. Another "interesting" thing they did was get rid of Corps elements, everything is structured at Divisional level, so this Special Operations Force going to California has to sort out its Corps level functions for itself from scratch. What could possibly go wrong? 

Having done Russians, I am now considering bodging an Austrian army as (i) they also very nearly fought each other a number of times and certainty that (ii) if Warlord Epic do anything in their range it will be French and Prussians so I will have plenty of historical opponents. Or, of course, an Imagi-Nation to tweak the Bear. Ruritania is beautiful this time of year....

The Russian invasion of the USA & Canada, 1864 Part II

My painting progress has been...abysmal, but I thought it might be interesting to set the scene for the Russian invasion, and the army that will do it:

Firstly, they had had colonies all along the Alaskan, Canadian and US west coast as far down as Fort Ross, about 90 or so miles north of San Francisco. The town of the time has been superseded but the fort has been preserved (see picture below). PS. you can fire the cannons, its great fun!

Fort Ross (Rus) about 90 miles north of San Francisco  (courtesy Wikpedia)

Anyway, the area was sold in 1841, to a John Sutter, soon to be renowned for the discovery of gold at his lumber mill in the Sacramento valley. Not only that, some Russian historians assert the sum was never paid; therefore legal title of the settlement was never transferred to Sutter and the area still belongs to the Russian people! 

Add to this that after the Crimean Wars Russia were desperately trying to build up the state coffers. I asked the Oracle of All Wisdom (Chat-GPT) why one would not reconquer the gold bearing areas of the US West while the Americans were tearing each other apart? It said (and I quote):

If Russia had access to California’s gold after taking control of the region during the American Civil War, it would have a substantial financial and strategic advantage. The gold could be used to fund military operations, stabilize the Russian economy, and exert geopolitical influence.

That is the good news, and provides a perfect (and profitable) cassus belli...but its not all plain sailing

However, Russia would also face significant challenges in maintaining control over California, including long supply lines, potential local resistance, and the need to fend off Union attempts to retake the region. The outcome would depend on Russia’s ability to manage these logistical, military, and political challenges effectively.

....so it was clear it had to be self sustaining. Between me and Chat GPT we decided we had to take San Francisco as well.

Secondly, building the army from the limited Epic Warlord 13.5mm troops available. One can bodge quite a lot of the Russian 1860's army with 1815 Prussian Landwehr infantry, as they also wear the beloved Russian forage cap and sling a greatcoat and at 15mm scale that works. By the way, the cap was also often worn in action by Russians in the Napoleonic Wars, so the 1860's Russian army I'm building can also be used for the 1812+ .....see pic below. If Foundry do them, it must be right :)

In the foreground of the picture below (Osprey book on Russo Turkish War of 1877) is a Russian Dragoon of the 1870s. The kepi had come in by the mid 1860's (it was quite the fashion in armies worldwide). He looks a lot like like a Union cavalryman, and a Union cavalryman looks a lot like him when painted green. Behind him is a Russian infantry drummer of 1877, compare that to the 1812 figs above.

The Union cavalry guys come from the Warlords Epic ACW Zouave set, so I now also have some Zouave figures that need using, The picture below shows Russian units in the Circassian campaigns (it's part of a painting "They Attack Unaware" by Vasily Vereshchagin). The Circassian campaign was largely over by 1863, so where better to re-deploy some grizzled grognards poste haste in 1864 than California?  Of course, the long white hot weather tunic will be replaced by green winter jackets in the USA. And at 13.5m scale that's as good an excuse for  Zouave figures as I've ever seen!

 

)

To make bodging even more believable, 1860's Russia collaborated fully with me. 

• Styles went in and out quite fast in the Crimea to Russo-Turkish War period as the army was in huge flux. Lots of different gear woukd have co-existed, and they only replaced stuff as it wore out so they were slow to change uniform.
• Pan-Slavism was becoming A Thing so units got to be able to select dress far more flexibly in this period, leading to increasing use of looser trousers and long tunics in Russian armies, and preference for the Slavic forage cap over European style headgear. 
• Also, uniforms and equipment were supplied at a regiment level from local manufacturers, so it did actually vary quite a bit. Also, on campaign they would use local styles as "official" battledress wore out (hence 2 Cossack equipped Russian line infantry regiments in the Crimean war had red shakoes, for example). 

The last bit of the jigsaw puzzle is "How would an 1860's Russian army in America be organised, and what stats would you give it in an American Civil War game?. I've been researching the changes in teh Russan army from the Crimea to the Russian Civil War, 1864-66 is a sort of midpoint. 

Firstly, how were they structured and organised? Here are some interesting datapoints.

• In theory they shifted from Corps to Brigade focus, in practice they had Corps structures even in 1877 and everything below was fairly similar to Crimean (even Napoleonic) Wars ones.
  
• The shift to rifled weaponry -the bulk infantry have the standard weapon of the day, so rifle muskets in the 1860's, but specialist separate Jaeger units (only a few battalions existed) are given the best weapons of the day (by mid 1860s, breech loading rifles). They also made a lot of brass rifled cannon (like Civil War "Napoleons")
• Between Crimea and the Russo Turkish war, all the Dragoon regiments are turned into mounted infantry. Cossacks stay much the same, Hussar front ranks are given lances. Only the Cuirassiers remain "Heavy" cavalry.
  
• Tactically, they still believe in "General Bayonet" - even after analysing 1859 Austro-Italian war results at Magenta and Solferino that gave rise to the Red Cross. Bear in mind that doctrinally the Russian line are supposed to advance behind a Jaeger screen (though this was often not followed in the Crimean war, with predictable results).
• But where are these Jaegers? In the Crimean War, every Division has 2 line and 2 Jaeger  regiments in two separate brigades, but by 1877 its 4 Line regiments in two separate brigades. No Jaegers are mentioned except the few separate elite battalions mentioned above. But there are some clues:
• One source says that one regiment in each Division is a Jaeger regiment, though when his applies is not clear.  
  
• By 1877, Russian battalions have an entire company of "strelkovy" (skirmishers / sharpshooters) added. There is a hint elsewhere that these may have been combined into battalions or at least opearted together as a skirmish screen in front of an advancing Brigade.
  

At any rate, from these sets I have some Prussian 1812 Jaeger figures and I want to use them. So I am going to assume that midway through this transition, 1 out of 4 Line battalions are Jaegers, so here is my first 1812  Prussian - I mean 1860's Russian - line Jaeger unit (OK, the shakoes are a bit tall for the "hard" kepi style, so I need to clip the hats down a bit).

As to what sort of troops they might take to the US. If the Circassian and 1877 Russo Turkish wars are a guide, for each Corps the bulk of the force was two line infantry Divisons plus quite a lot of guns (as per Russian usual practice). Attached are typically a handful of Grenadier battalions and ditto a few of the separate Jaeger rifle battalions. Typically a Cavalry Divison is also attached - one Hussar. one Uhlan and one Dragoon regiment. They used well disposed locals as well, as they had in Crimea, the Circassian wars, the Caucasus and in 1877, so they would likely recruit US locals - which should give some entertaining units.  

We are going to use Valour and Fortitude rules, there are some ideas from rulesets that have Civil War and Russia armies (such as Principles of War) on how they compare, and we will have to test them out.

1860's Russian Invasion of the USA and Canada Part I

The next major "project" of the gang I regularly play big battles with is ACW using the Warlord Epic figures, at c 13mm scale. We will be using the new Valour & Fortitude ACW lists

Now two "What If's" have always fascinated me about this war:

• What If the British and French came in on the Confederate side? They gave considerable assistance in the early days of the war to the Confederacy.
• What If the Russians decided to re-take their Alaskan, US and Canadian Western Seaboard territories? Post Crimea they had redoubled their push Eastwards. Why not re-take these, what with the US in a massive civil war and Canada militarily inconsequential. Besides, Gold had been found in some of the areas the Russian had relinquished.

We discussed it and it became clear that playing ACW with Foreign power involvement would be fascinating to game and everyone was up for it. For me it was a toss up between French and Russians, but a Russian invasion would be more unusual, and also fascinating for a whole lot of geopolitical reasons at the time. Also, a Russian army of the 1860's could fight Turks, interfere with European wars and play the Great Game as well. Besides, I've been to Fort Ross in California (the southernmost major Russian settlement, about an hour North of San Francisco), and fired the cannon there, so that clinched it. Russians it would be.

However, finding 1860's Russian figures in 15mm is very hard, never mind 13mm, but two things were on my side:

• Firstly, at 13mm scale there is a lot than can be unseen/forgiven
• Secondly, we are all of that generation that grew up using Airfix French Napoleonics and plastecine for Russians and Austrians, and Foreign Legion, US Cavalry and Union infantry for all sorts of things.
  
• Thirdly, Russian uniform changed markedly post Crimea, but it is hard to get good sources until the 1877 Turkish wars. Besides they were notorious for being slow to re-equip units with new stuff and also had a wide variety of "uniforms" anyway, so some latitude (and "assumptions") could be made. 

Looking at the Warlord Epic 13mm Prussian Napoleonic models (same scale as their ACW models) it was clear that their Prussian Landwehr set wore what is essentially the ubiquitous Russian forage cap, and had a big blanket rolled over their tunics. In 13mm scale that's pretty much a shoo-in for the Russian poor bloody infantryman and his beloved greatcoat. Plus, the cavalry in the set could be bodged to be 1860's Cossacks, Hussars or Uhlans and the skirmish infantry could likewise be Russian Jaegers with a bit of clipping and filing. 

Looking more carefully at the sets, the Jaegers in the Prussian Line set could possibly be converted to Russian Jaegers in formation, some figures already had those ubiquitous forage caps. Turned out you could buy these troops on eBay without buying the rest of the set, so I did. I also found that the French Imperial Guard Horse artillery set came on its own and had big furry hats and long coats that, in 13mm, made them ideal for Cossack Hosre Artillery.

So, I went off and bought some, and the first test results are shown in the picture below - 1815 Prussian (now 1860's Russian) Jaegers, and French 1815 (now 1860's) Cossack Horse artillery.

 

Test units for 1860's "Russian" Jaegers and  "Cossack" Horse Artillery using 1815 Prussian Jaegers and French Guard artillery. Also showing 15m figures for comparison. I'll paint 'em first and then file the Jaeger hats if its too obvious they are too tall.
 

I have also put some "15mm" figs up to compare: top (grey) = Plastic Soldier WW2 Russians, middle (brown) other 15/18mm WW2 Russians (Battlefront I think), bottom (metal) 15/18mm dark age haries (Museum I think). As you can see, not much difference, so it should be possible to introduce some 15mm figures (especially smaller ones).

Of course the really interesting thing to work out are "how would they fight". Turns out V&F have both Franco Prussian lists and ACW lists, and an older Ruleset (Principles of War) has lists that cover all these armies, so it is possible to interpolate. 

Actually, I lie - the really big question everyone was interested in was "would they bring the heavy cavalry over to the US?". The answer is probably not, for 2 reasons:

• Post Crimea, the Russian believed the day of charging heavy cavavlry was over, and started to convert their Dragoons (the vast bulk of their heavy cavalry) to mounted infantry - i.e. back to real Dragoons
• Just in case though, they kept the Cuirassiers as heavy cavalry, but these were the jewel in the crown and unlikely to be used in such a far away expedition, what with the Prussian machinations of the period.

However, it is entirely possible that their reformulated Dragoons would come over. These troops also had the Russian style kepi, and oddly enough US ACW cavalry with caps are not a million miles away at this scale. 

And maybe they would be able to still put in the odd heavy cavalry charge....

I will write a Part II in a few weeks to show the rest of the models used (and some finished samples), plus some more discussion on the history and geopolitics of Russian re-colonisation of the US in the 1860's and fitting a Russian army to ACW rules.

   

The Princess Marie Louise Incident (and Russo Prussian invasion of Austrian Galicia, 1811)

We played a 10,000 point 6mm Napoleonic game using Valour & Fortitude rules this past weekend (see picture - 18' table, 300+ c 50 figure battalions and 100+ c 20 fig cavalry regiments, at least c 12,000 figures.

The Scenario

You will all remember  that following Austria's defeat by France in 1809, Russia and Prussia decided to make a land grab of Austrian Poland, triggered by the Princess Marie Louise Incident at the August 1811 Great Party (of which we, as gentleman, of course cannot discuss in public, and would never dream of referring to it as the Marie Louise Affaire). 

But what is strange is the brief campaign and battle are all but expunged from the records of that time. Fortunately, some papers have come into our posession that shed some light on this campaign.

In essence, after the Incident, Prussia and Russia invaded Galicia, and Austria immediately invoked the 1809 agreement with France. Napoleon gathered all the "French" Poles and along with some French. As with Austria in 1812, it was enough to show willing but not enough to annoy Russia and Prussia.

The Battle field 

The battlefield is shown below, looking from the Wien side of the Great Wien Moskva Road through Galicia by a French Montgolfier Mk.2 Military Hot Air balloon. To the right, Russians and Prussians. To the left, Austria and Poland (closest)

 The battle from Montgolfier balloon, looning Northeast towards Moskva, taken by Daguerrotype and colourized . The closest hamlet on the Great Road is Karlsburg, with Grolscz in the

 

The Battlefield Map  

The battle took place along the Great Wien - Moskva Road in Galicia at the strategic point where the  road crosses the Berlin to Bucharest road at Grosse/Velike Plopnitz, and the Warsaw to Odessa road at nearby Kleine/Malike Plopnitz, as well as the key bridges over the Odna river at Gruendorf/Zeleni Mesto, Slobowicz and Schloss Hasselhof and the Insha river bridge at Katyakokovplus the bridge over their confluence at Scheissdorf. The approximate location of the Corps are shown on the map.

The hamlets, villages and towns are shown on the map. The the pink arrows are the main thrusts by the various forces. 

Above - hastily drawn map by Montglofier Balloon crew towards end of battle. Top, L-R IV Polish Corps, III Austrian Korps. II Austrian Korps, I Austrian Korps. Bottom L-R IV Russo-Wurtemberg Corps, Russian II Corps, Russian I Corps, Prussian III Corps. Little flags by towns show who occupies them at the close of the battle

The orange oval shows the village of Slobowicz. the Austrian captured the top half of the town near the end of that the battle an a late attack, which with their control of the major crossroads town of Velike Plopnitz and river bridges at Gruenberg and Hasselhof gave them effective control of the key lines of communication and logistics and (spoiler alert) the tactical victory.  

The Russo-Wurttemburg Corps used Wurttemburg troops to make up the numbers (think of it as a sort of Russo German legion) and we decided to try out the new Bavariain list on them.

The Battle - in brief

In brief, the Austrians, with their Polish and French allies  had bivouacked the night before at a number of hamlets, villages and towns along the Wien-Moskva Road, and set up headquarters at the comfortable Chateaux Hasselhof. The Russo-Prusso-German army advanced early on the morning of 13 July, crossing the rivers over several points, hoping to catch the Austrian unawares.

Fortunately/unfortunately (depending on which side you are on), crossing the bridges took longer than expected and the Austrians were able to mobilise their forces. The battle resolved into a number of fights for the hamlets, villages and towns on the road and rivers, plus a huge cavalry battle on the Western side (closest to camera in the picture above, left side of map above) with Poles vs. Wurttemburgers and Russians, a meatgrinder battle in the centre where the Austrian pipped the Russians on key points occupied, and an Austrian assault on the Prussians the East flank, as the Prussians struggled to cross the river.

Some Pictures and Commentary on various areas of the battlefield

Descriptions 1 - 5 below go from left to right hand of the map above.

1. The battle in the Western Sector 

(The fight for Karlsburg, left hand side of map_.

The IV Russo-Wurttemburg Corps (right of picture) advanced carefully, skirmish screens thrown out, except for a rush by their Light infantry brigade to take Karlsburg (top centre of picture). The Polish, fielding a Line Corps reinforced with a cavalry division on open ground, immediately attacked while they had the advantage of numbers, with a large cavalry column surging forward (left/centre of picture). Polish cavalry hit the skirmishing cossacks and light infantry screen (centre), causing chaos. 

The Wurttemburg ChevauxLeger sacrificed themselves to protect their infantry and gain time for the the Russians to deploy II Reserve Corps, the extra troops put the Poles on the defensive and Karlsburg remained in Russian hands till the end. 

 

 2. Massed Austrian move on Grolcz

Moving one town to the right on the map along the Great Road... 

The Austrian III Corps (top of picture, below) launched a Divison to occupy Grolcz (mid left of picture) However, the Russians had marched brigade to attack it and they succeeded in seizing the bottom half of the village (see units below village). The whole Austrian Corps athen dvanced en masse and the Russian Brigade was left just hanging on in Grolcz.  I Russian Reserve Corps was brought on, its heavy cavalry crossing the river at Scheissdorf and threw themselves at the Austrian lead units by the road (picture, centre). They did some damage before being too blown to fight, and the Guard Cossacks took out an Austrian masse (square). This gave space and time for the Reserve Corps grenadiers to cross the river, march to Grolcz and push the Austrians out, and they held it for the rest of the battle

3. The battle for the centre Part I

Moving right on the map to the next major town/battle sector

Between Grolcz and Veliky Plopnitz  was the Platberg, a large flat-topped hill by the river (centre of picture). The Russians (top of picture) had a thin defence behind the river, and a Jaeger skirmish screen on the other side of it. The hill protected much of the Russian brigade from artillery fire. Austria pushed the bulk of II Korps into this area (bottom pf picture), with Grenz and Jaeger units screening the flank of Veliky Plopnitz (left side of picture, centre).

To win the Russians had to hold on to Slobowicz (hamlet beside the river, top left in picture above, above and the best way was to take at least some of Veliky Plopnitz (the larger town just below it in teh picture), blocking Austrian acces to it. Russian I Corps' cavalry Light Brigade  was sent to attack the Grenzers and then push behind the Austrians in the gap the defeared Grenzers would make (you can see the Light Brigade crossing the river over Slobowicz bridge, top left in picture above, moving towards Veliky Plopnitz)

Picture below - the charge of  I Russian Corps' Light Brigade.  The fighting was furious around Velke Plopnitz for most of the battle, but the Austrians always held onto part of it and kept on  feeding units into this meatgrinder battle. 

Russia did not have enough reserves and had played all its Reserve Corps elsewhere (lesson - keep one Reserve Corps in Reserve!) and finally the Russian forces collapsed. Austria then took Veliky Plopnitz and advanced to take the part of Slobowicz on "their" side of the river. The Austrians leverly tied up the Russian troops reserved to retake Slobowicz by attacking them across the river with cavalry, tying them up - bad for the cavalry but good for the Austrian attack on Slobowicz - and thus winning them the battle as Russia controlled neither the key roads or the waterway. 

4. The battle for the centre Part II

Next village going east along the Great Road - Gruenberg.

Austria used a Grenzer Regiment of 3 battalions to take and hold Gruenberg. Russia set up a Corps battery of 6 and 12 pounders and proceeded to pound it, then attacked with a line infantry brigade double the size of the Austrian forces. (Picture below, marching in from bottom left). The Russians wiped out 2 of 3 Grenz battalions but failed to take the town the whole battle, and one shaken, but not stirred, battalion of Grenzers marched out at the end of the battle.

5. The Battle of the Eastern Flank

The last 2 villages (going left to right) on the Great Road - Maliky Plopnitz and KoeningLinguzstein

The photos below show the sector from the Austrian point of view (bottom of picture, moving up towards the road, they launched I Korps plus Reserve Korps on this sector against the Prussian Korps and their Reserve Korps. It would seem the aim was to knock Prussia out of the game.

If you read the 2 photos below as top to bottom = left to right it show the whole sector and the sheer size of the Austrian Force.  In short, the Austrians poured forth, especially on the Eastern-most flank, quickly taking KoeningLinguzstein (top picture). The Prussians decided an a slow retirement to keep their army in being, and beseeched the Russian to help them.  the last III (Russian) Reserve Corps was sent, but struggled to get over the river. When they finally did get over their heavy cavalry persuaded the Austrians to go into square across the field, denying the Russian cavalry an opportunity to get around their flank at ...(moving to the lower picture)...Maliky Plopnitz, where the Austrians were much more thinly spread apart from occupying the town (top right in bottom picture). In the last hours of the battle Russian reserve Grenadiers and a Russian line brigade from I Corps attacked Maliky Plopnitz, pushing the Austrians out of some of town.

 

 

The fight for KoeningLinguzstein which the Austrian stook and held (top picture) and the Austrians on a limb in Maliky Plopnitz (Bottom picture, town on top of picture). A Russian heavy cavalry attack into that open space was neutralized by a wall of Austrian attalion masses (squares). The Russians were eventually able to take the town however.  The Austrian HQ at Hasselhof is in the foreground, bottom right.

The Heroes and Horrors

Heroes

Two squares were broken, one Prussian by the Austrian 5th (Sommariva)  Cuirassiers, the other by the Guard Cossack Lancers (after being shot up by Russian Jaegers). Both cavalry unkist were left shaken though.

The Peterwardein Grenzers held Gruendorf  all game despite facing a Russian heavy battery all battle, plus an assault by an entire Russian brigade. Only 1 battaliion was left, shae - but not stirred. They ascribe it to the superior slivowitz of their homeland.

The  Russian I Reserve Corps Grenadier brigade took Grolzc and held it against all comers

The Wurttemburg Dragoons charged the fresh Polish line, wiped out a Hussar Regiment and the whole 1st wave Polish brigade required a lot of wodka to re-fortify their valour (fail a valour test...). 

Horrors

The Russian Ist Reserve Corps Heavy Brigade was pretty useless. The came, they saw, they ran away. Over and over again. Marshall Neyokov was given a bottle of vodka and a pistol and told to go down to the river to consider his future. 

The Prussian Reserve Corps marched bravely to the Insha River, and liked it so much it took most of  the battle to get them over onto the other side. 

To be fair the Prussian Grenadiers then took the town of KoeningLinguzstein together with a Russian line brigade, and the Cuirassiers stopped the Austrian advance fair and square just by being there. 

There were a number of entire Brigade collapses on both sides, but such is the nature of (tabletop) warfare.

The Result

The battle proper went on from dawn on Satuday to dusk in mid-summer, by nightfall the Russians had taken some of the villages but in the clear light of morning  morning it was clear they had not secured the river, never mind a secure position over it. It was a big enough Austrian victory to persuade Russia and Prussia to go home, and (after a good lunch) a treaty was signed and all agreed to forget this misunderstanding had ever happened. 

But it had  convinced Napoleon, back in France, that Russia was a serious threat, and we all know what that led to in 1812......

Playing the Game

Valour & Fortitude v 2.3 rules, they are the best rules we have found for major battles with hundreds of battalions, as the rules are relatively fast play and give very believable results (and they are free!). 

In essence we had 4 Line Corps and 4 Reserve Corps per side, based roughly on national structures. This gave c 150+ infantry battalions on the Russian side (there were 168 at Borodino to give an idea of battle size) and similar on the Austrian. We must have had 100+ cavalry regiments overall,and 50+ guns. It was 10,000 points for both sides. had upwards of 17,000 6mm figures.

The game took c 16 hours, Friday was setup and Russian and Austrian first moves, we played through Saturday (with a good dinner) and 1 final turn on Sunday morning, followed by packing away and lunch. The result was based on objectives, and the Austrian side had taken / held onto more than the Russian so were the winner, eespecially strategically. It felt typical of many of the big late Napoleonic battles. 

Tactically the game was not "clever" at a strategic and grand tactical level. There were few spaces for open manouvre, and where these were seen exploitation was tried but on both sides typically forestalled by the opponent. Most of the "clever" was at the tactical level in individual fights. The Russian error was to not reserve enough of a force to keep the Austrians out of Slobowicz, but then the breakthrough may just have moved elsewhere, the main problem was always getting over the river. 

Overall the rules worked really well, 3 relative newbies were happily playing themselves by lunch time Saturday. Each Corps player was their own CiC.  We played it at 2/3 move/range, which worked well for getting into contact and the ranges are believable vs unit size and movement.

 

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Bordurian - Syldavia War: Battle of the 5 armies

 A bit of Balkan background

For those not familiar with the Western Balkan history of the 1930s, we must point you to those two important historical records, King Ottokar's Sceptre and the Calculus Affair by Herge, recording the involvement of Anglo-Belgian journalist Tintin in the region during this tumultuous time.  

Interestingly, neither book mentions one of the major reasons for much of the Syldavian - Bordurian tension. Trans Syldavia is a small state north of Syldavia and west of Borduria, and had fought free of the Habsburg empire in the 1848 revolution, only to be annexed by Borduria in the Balkan Wars. But Borduria joined the losing side in World War 1, and Syldavia the winning, so Trans Syldavia was transferred to Syldavia. (No one at any time asked what the Trans Syldavians wanted, of course).

Also seldom mentioned is the Austro Hungarian / Burgundian rivalry in this area of the Balkans. 

As you know, at the Treary of Versailles when Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey were split up, the catholic German lands of Austria and Bavaria had joined up to form the Austro-Bavarian twin kingdom and set out to recover the Dalmatian coast lands handed to Italy. Also, if you recall, both Belgiums, Luxembourg, some of the German states. parts of Italy who felt that the 1800's "unifications" weren't working, plus similarly disgruntled parts of France had united to re-form Burgundy. Burgundy also wanted the Dalmatian Italian lands. The result was that Austro-Bavaria sent forces to help Borduria, while Burgundy sent forces to help Syldavia. Still feeling beleagured, Syldavia had also sought the services of the Waggoner Demonstration Group, an "Independant army" made up of British WW1 veterans and clandestinely armed by the British government to try out new-fangled armoured vehicles.

The Scenario - The Navy Day Battle 

Borduria has invaded Trans-Syldavia (see here). A Bordurian column has raced along Northern Trans-Syldavia to meet up with its ally, an Austro Bavarian Expeditionary force coming in from the North. To stop this force, available elements of the Syldavian army, plus the newly arrived  Burgundian and Waggoner Demonstration Group forces have been hastily gathered to stop them. 

11 May is Borduria’s Navy Day  (despite being landlocked, Borduria kept a Navy, for when they took Trans Syldavia back…… ) and the Bordurian Kûrvi-Tasch regime demanded a victory to announce on the Day.

The Bordurian flying column was thus told to attack, immediately. Despite desperate entreaties by the  Flying Column (now Ex) commander that the Austro Hungarians were some way off being able to join them, orders were orders and so they attacked the relatively safe (they thought) rural twin town of Górnej (Upper) and Nisżej (Lower) Nudnymiasto.

However, unknown to the Bordurians, a Syldavian force was fitting out in Nisżej Nudnymiasto. Worse still, both  Burgundian and the Waggoner forces had rendezvoused in the area.

 

 Looking from the north to the south, Górnej (Upper) Nudnymiasto is the closer of the 2 villages. It was to see very heavy action. Force dispositions are described below

Bordurian Advance...

The Bordurian 3rd Motor-Rifle Brigade advanced as per the manual, along the centre road west towards Górnej Nudnymiasto (A on the picture above), sending out probing forces along the top towards the farm near  Hill B (at B above) and bottom  the roads towards the farmhouses at Hill II (a II above). In addition recce troops and the FO were sent up onto the heights (at C) to overlook the terrain. 

The manual also demanded a barrage, but not wanting to upset the locals whose hospitality they  planned to enjoy that evening, the Bordurians fired into the woody Hill IIs and served only to alert the gathering Syldavian forces that there were enemy approaching, and the locals to get out the area by all means possible. 

Bordurian Recce Co. Pz.1 tankettes (fruit of the Musstler regime alliance with Germany) reached Górnej Nudnymiasto, finding it deserted. Their advance guard infantry arrived a little later along the road ("Motorised" does not mean they have trucks, you understand - it's more an aspiration) and occupied Górnej. Bordurian infantry also moved on the road towards the farmhouses at Hill (II) via route D.

The first sign of trouble was on route D, when a Burgundian unit started firing from the woods (bottom centre).

The Waggoners, based around  point I, being highy motorised, decided that attack was the best form of defence and sent their light company Light MkI tanks and mounted infantry in rapid advance to Górnej Nudnymiasto. Similarly. the Syldavians moved to occupy Nisżej Nudnymiasto (III) and advanced mixed armour and infantry towards the top farmhouse near Hill B, firing on the Bordurian unit (who dived into the farm buildings) .

The Bordurians were caught strung out on an east - west (left - right) axis with quite a lot of their forces still close to the left table edge as fighting started. A heavy machine gun unit was moved up on to the heights at C, and Bordurian BA-10 armoured cars (fruit of USSR support) moved to support fire at D, and mortar fire was also ranged on that wood.  Another infantry platoon was diverted to the farm at B. 

The situation was stabilising...

...and then all hell broke loose! 

Then Waggoner armour hit  Górnej (see below), initially supported by Syldavian infantry. The Bordurians held on initially but weight of fire drove them back, and they only held on due to reinforcements arriving. 

Looking West - East from Syldavian side. Waggoner Group tanks at I advance on Górnej Nudnymiasto at (A), while Syldavian units move from Nisżej Nudnymiasto.(III) towards  A and to Hill B (B)

But overall the strung out Bordurians were getting the worst of it, eventually being pushed out of Górnej and the Farmhouse at Hill B as Burgundian armour arrived to support the Syldavian infantry attack.

 Syldavian infantry and Burgundian Independent Tanks advance on the Farmhouse at Hill B, blasting the Bordurian troops the farm buildings  

Despite fierce resistance from the Bordurians, the Syldavians and their Waggoner and Burgundian allies were grinding away at them, forcing FUBARS (Loss points from - well, big losses) on them. Things looked very bad for Borduria, only in the woods at point D were they succeeding. 

The (Austrian) Cavalry arrives to save the day.....

At this point, at about mid-day,  the Austro-Bavarians, who had been delayed (Bad traffic on the A205, they claimed), arrived and not a moment too soon.

The first sign of them were their Chevau-Jagers (Mounted Jagers) galloping down the road on to the woods around point D, sweeping away the Burgundians from the woods, then galloping towards the farms at Hill II.

Shortly after that, Austro-Bavarian Panzer-Grenadiers riding on their Ford tankettes arrived and reinforced Górnej Nudnymiasto, pushing the Waggoners and Syldavians away. Then the Austro Bavarian Panzer force arrived. 

Not only that, the Bordurians counter-attacked the farm at Hill B, using their Naval brigade, backed up with Bordurian BT-5 tanks, and took back the farm.

 

Bordurian BT-5 tanks attack at Hill B, taking on the Burgundian Independent tanks

Syldavia threw in all its reserves to retake the farm, sweeping down from Hill B. But the Bordurians summoned an air attack, a flight of Polikarov Po. 2s bombed the Syldavians, causing many casualties.

Bordurian Po-2 strike on Syldavian forces, as Bordurian Naval infantry hold them off from the farmhouse at Hill B
 

Surely, now Borduria / Austro-Bavaria would prevail? 

 The charge of the Waggoners 

At this point the Waggoners committed all their armour and armoured infantry to a full scale assault on Górnej Nudnymiasto.

The Waggoners attack (I) - Medium Mk II tank companies plus armoured infantry assault  Górnej Nudnymiasto

At the same time, the Waggoner mounted infantry attack went in, and fierce fighting again occurred with the Bordurian and Austro Bavarian units in and around the town . 

 

 The Waggoners attack (II) - armoured infantry assault Górnej Nudnymiasto on their Morris-Martel tankettes

 A major tank battle ensued, with the Austro-Bavarian armour getting the worst of it and fierce fighting in the village pushed the Bordurians and Anglo-Bavarians back.

Austro Bavarian Fiat F2000 mobile pillbox blows up, and their Lt.38s also have a bad time against the Waggoners' tanks. Top left, more Austro-Bavarian Jagers zu Pferd charge into the fight at Górnej Nudnymiasto

And what, I hear you ask, about the cavalry attack on the farms at Hill II? Well unfortunately, that ran into almost the entire Burgundian force, and despite the Austro Bavarian cavalry being reinforced by more Panzer Grenadiers, neither side could gain an avantage.

The Aftermath

Syldavia won, 4 FUBARS to 2, and was able to claim the victory. 

But it had taken enough damage (reduced a 4-4 to 4-2 by contesting Górnej Nudnymiasto and Hill B Farm with big casualties) to not want to follow up the Bordurians and Austro Bavarians, who had advanced to their rear but temained a force in being. 

Thus Borduria succesfully joined up with their Austro German Allies, and also claimed a Glorious Victory on Navy Day. (If you disagree, Colonel Sponsz will be contacting you...)

The Game

15mm 1930's rivet tank extravaganza, using O Group rules. We found O Group needs some tweaking of armour classes to allow for the profusion of badly armoured tanks, so we use 4 low end Armour ratings, not just 2.. Ditto, these are big forces compared to a standard O group 1 battalion game, and it was quite slow as only 10 orders per side. We plan to increase the number of orders per turn in future.

Armies are Imagi-Nations, so all sorts of Orbats are used.....