The Battle of Three Fords

 

With their key river defense line broken the Union of Pacts Commonwealth had begun pulling back the rest of their river covering forces and supplies to safer interior lines. The Wolfenstein Empire had sent out small probing forces to harass these operations. It was in the area of Glenview and Prospect Heights that these forces collided.

The main Commonwealth forces concentrated on a hill west of the Planes river and south of the main wooded area that guarded one of the fords and the main road leading west. A detachment of light infantry was positioned in the woods atop the high ground, while in the open fields beyond awaited the forces cavalry and their supply wagons. They needed to get the supply wagons off the west side of the main road and keep their force mostly intact.

The Empire had sent a flanking force into the main woods, consisting of a small detachment of light infantry, and supported by a large dragoon regiment. There advance guard was a line battalion and a cuirassier regiment coming in on the east side of the Planes River along the main road. This was followed by the main body of line infantry, their converged grenadier, and a battery of artillery.

The Empire started the battle by forcing the road ford with their cuirassier while their line infantry struggled to follow up as quickly as possible. The main Union forces quickly responded by rushing their infantry down from the hill to block the way across the ford. Accurate fire reduced the cuirassier who launched a desperate charge at poor odds. This was sent routing away with little results showing for their effort. It did buy time for their supporting infantry to cross the river. Meanwhile the main force struggled to get forward and bring the artillery in to action.

In the forest the Union light infantry held their superior position as the Empire forces moved forward. Their well timed fire forced the Empire back to regroup time and again, and eventually routed the Empires lights. With their cavalry in the lead the Union successfully crossed the central ford and was easily moving the wagons out of harms way.

Back at the main road the Empire with the aid of their artillery had finally forced a crossing of the Plains River ford, but this seemed too little, to late. The Union had successfully started to withdraw their light infantry from the woods, and their line infantry away from the growing Empire force on the main road. They had effectively established a second line of cavalry to cover the withdraw, when suddenly they changed their minds and instead launched a massive assault against the pursuing Empire troops. Outnumbered, out classed, and out maneuvered, this became an immediate disaster for the Union. In a moments time their brilliantly executed saving of their supplies and preservation of their force turn to the routing of their force and an unexpected defeat.

RIVER ASSAULT AT HALF DAY ROAD

Assault on the North Bridge

In April, the Wolfenstein Empire had been held in check at capturing a river crossing into the Union of Pacts of the Commonwealth. Throughout the following months, several minor probing attacks had been going on, but no major attacks had occurred. Both sides used the time to recruit, drill and bring their forces up to a full war footing. In mid-June, the next major thrust came.

All along the Planes River, the Union maintained garrison and lookout posts. Maintaining forces back, allowed them to reinforce anywhere along the front that came under attack. The Empire had been feinting south near the town and crossing of The Planes, while planning a more daring and unexpected attack far to the north.

In the early hours, the garrison at the twin bridges along Half Day Road were startled when their scouts reported a major Empire force heading their way. General Growling immediately sent word to his relief forces to “Come a running”. He sent his only troops, the Houndstooth’s Battalion, to the east side of the north bridge, while the Buffalo Grove battery took up position to cover both bridges approaches.

Houndstooth's Battalion at the North Bridge

At nine o’clock the Empire forces began to arrive, led by their cavalry followed by columns of infantry. By that time, the Union’s light infantry scouts had returned and were formed up to cover the southern bridge. The Empire cavalry moved up to pin the Union forces in place, holding just outside musket range while the remainder of their forces arrived on the field and began maneuvering to assault both bridges in unison. Union artillery kept up a lively barrage, disrupting the Empire’s approach.

Buffalo Grove Battery in Action

By mid-afternoon when the Empire forces had finally moved into position to start their attacks in earnest, Union reinforcements of all arms, including their grenadiers had arrived on the field. It seemed the Empire’s vast numerical advantage had been squandered by not attacking rapidly in the morning.

Battle Rages Around the South Bridge

Throughout the rest of the afternoon, the Empire launched continuous assaults against the north bridge. While none directly succeeded, they did wear down the Union forces. The key moment was when both side’s grenadiers met in an epic clash, resulting in both forces being routed. This left the Union without any reserves, while the Empire simply pushed forward with yet another unit of line.  

On the south side, the Empire chose the different tactic of massing their firepower and shooting down the defenders. When one of their battalions was reduced, they brought forward another. Meanwhile, on the Union side, every time a battalion was lost there was no replacement.

Opposing Grenadiers Fight for Control of the North Bridge 

As the sun began to set, it looked like, though beaten and bloody, the Union would hold the crossing. However, with a final Herculean push, the Empire threw everything it had remaining on a final assault. Breaking another Union Battalion left them shattered, forcing the brave defenders off the field and leaving the crossing in the Empire’s hands. 

The Late Afternoon Fighting

THE HONORED DEAD

In my games each time a unit has been routed in a game I permanently note it by placing a group of red poppies on the back of one of the bases. If it has performed some heroic action, I note that with a purple flower. This provides a quick visual reference of the past performance of units. Rather than being disappointed by a group’s loss, I think of it as showing their metal by performing their duty and are deserving of memorialization.  

The Honored Dead From the Half Day Road Battle

The Empire Lord Saluki's Hussars, Shepardton's Lights, and Converged Grenadier

Union Artillery, Softpad's Dragoon, Houndtooth's, Wolfingham's and Whinestein's Line Infantry, Converged Grenadiers

THE BATTLE OF WILLOW ROAD BRIDGE

The Setting

After a score of years with their grievances to high  taxes, unfair trade policies, lack of true representation in the Imperial Council, and inequality under the laws, the Union of the Packs of the Commonwealth regions had had enough. In the winter of 1761, they declared independence from the Wolfenstein Empire. Everyone knew the Empire would attempt to bring the rebels back into the fold--by force if necessary--but would have to wait for good weather.

The Union knew there were too many bridges across the Plains River to be able to guard them all, so set about destroying the places it could not control. The Willow Road Bridge was one of these, and while the Union did not expect any opposition, prudence dictated sending an armed escort.

The Empire had spent the winter scouting for the best invasion points into the Union. Some, like the city of The Plains were going to be heavily defended, so finding an undefended crossing point to launch a flanking maneuver was decided on. Willow Road provided a good network to travel on and the bridge across the Plains River was wide and strong enough to handle the largest, heaviest artillery and wagons. It was decided to send a reconnaissance in force to capture the bridge in preparation of the main forces crossing. 

The Battle Field Looking West at the Top

The Union General Baysmoon had started his force off just before dawn. On arriving at the objective around seven in the morning, his engineer informed him that it would take his group about five hours to prepare the bridge for destruction. Baysmoon set them immediately onto their task while he went off to the local tavern to have breakfast, leaving his second in command, General Hunter to oversee the troops in his absence. Returning just after nine, he noticed a cloud of dust on the horizon. General Hunter, who had been observing the same dust from atop the nearby hill, quickly road down to his commander. “It would seem we are in for a show today. What are your orders Sir?”

With the enemy approaching, the Union forces cross the bridge to take up a defensive position on the hills to the east and form a blocking force across the main road.

Union Forces Headed to the East

Seeing the unexpected enemy in their defensive positions, Imperial General Sir Arfer sends his cavalry to both flanks while his infantry begins arriving along the road. Knowing time is critical, he launches his cavalry on the attack--not waiting for his infantry support--expecting that his quality and weight of numbers will carry them to victory. The outcome is not what he expected. Both sides’ battle cavalry force their opponents to retreat, while the Union’s Spitz’s Hussars easily defeat Lord Saluki’s Hussars. Their success is short lived as the Hussar’s lively charge carries them into the fire of the Empires light infantry causing Spitz;s forces to retreat.

Empire's Lord Pawling's Cuirassier Clash with the Union Snifferbutt's Dragoons

Light Cavalry Clash. Once Old Friend Meet in Combat for the First Time. 

Spitz's Hussars on the Left, Empire's Saluki's the Right

However indecisive the cavalry battle, it buys time for the Empire’s infantry to deploy and begin the general advance. A fire fight erupts across the whole line and the Union finds itself needing to give ground to prevent the battle line being flanked. The slow progress allows both sides’ cavalry to recover and reenter the fight. This time the Union’s Snifferbutt’s Dragoon rout the Empire’s Beggin’s Dragoon. This allowed them to make the significant contribution to the infantry assault that otherwise would have left the Union’s last line infantry alone against three opponents. 

Empire Shepardton's Lights Skirmishing with the Union Battle Line

With the Union forces pressed against the river, the Empire launched the decisive assault across the entire line. Victory would see them capture the bridge, but it was not yet to be. Both sides’ infantry were routed while Snifferbutt’s dragoons were victorious. The Empire still had one more trick in its bag. Launching the recovered Lord Pawling’s Cuirassier into a charge, with the support of the Shepardton’s Light Infantry, they routed the dragoon’s but were themselves routed. This removed all Union opposition from the east side of the bridge with most of the Union forces in a near state of collapse. During this whole time, the Union engineers had been working. Even with all the coming and going, through their Herculean effort the bridge had been mined. The fuse was lit, it burned, then sputtered, when suddenly, just as the Pawling’s Light Infantry neared the bridge, it exploded in a spectacular display. Miraculously all the Union troops had made it back west of the river before the bridge’s destruction. Tired and worn, the Union forces made a hasty withdrawal as the Empire troops could only watch.

The Empire's Assault. Out Numbering the Enemy 2-to-1 What Could go Wrong?

The Infantry on Both Side Retreating. Odds are Still in the Empires Favor

All the Union Forces Retreated to the West the Shepardton Lights Watch as the Bridge Over the Plains River Explodes. 

Observations

The game went well as most of the time my opinion kept shifting as to which side I felt had the upper hand. The Empire took the maximum time to reach the battlefield. They were hindered by a few low activity turns, yet they came within a moment of winning the game. The Union cavalry are the heroes of the day, especially Colonel Snifferbutt’s Dragoons. At every critical moment, the cavalry force rose to the occasion. Getting Admirable command results, allowed them to make double moves to get to critical positions and fight well above the average.

Overall, it was a close game with both armies being just short of the breaking point. I really thought I had myself handily beat a couple of times, only to see critical reversals take place. The next battle will be the Crossing Point.

THE DOG WARS WORLD

For this world, I had a few basic requirements. First, names would be in English or simple German. I wanted everything to be pronounceable. Second, personal names were going to be based on dog sounds as much as my imagination would allow. Later I went with breeds and activities when I ran out of steam on sounds. Third, locations were going to be local as this was my personal game. This required me to change some names to English from their French, or Native American ones. It also required me to find original street names as I was not about to use things like Martin Luther King or Eisenhower.

Wolfenstein Empire Forces on Parade

The Union of Pacts of the Commonwealth Forces

The Principality of Mutt Troops

DOG WARS: THE BEGINNING

For a very long time I have wanted to play the Programmed Wargames Scenarios by Charles Stewart Grant. I have owned the book for decades along with the companion Scenarios for Wargames, which for decades I have used in many periods, but I had never played the solo version of these. Last year I decided that I would build a force specifically for this purpose and, after many rules and figure debates, decided on Honours of War (HoW) for the rules and Alternative Armies Pudigrochumsburg dogmen in tricorns for my troops. This was going to be an ImagiNation world.

I chose the HoW rules because they use a dice activation system for Command and Control that provides additional constraints on possible actions. This was important to me in solo gaming. I also simply like the rules and the results they give, especially the opportunity to reorganize spent units, as for me the more command options in a game, the better I like it.

I picked the AA figures because I really like what the company does, even if they are nonhistorical. Additionally, they provide a painting service that is very good and priced right. Given the size of the project of around 900-1000 figures, I did not want to wait years for other services, or decades for me to stay motivated long enough to paint all of these. I have worked with them for decades and I knew they would also get things right. I do have a personal set of figures I am doing for this project, but that will be for a later post.

With rules and figures decided on, I next needed a campaign idea to set the scenarios in. My idea is to use a simple ladder campaign of taking the results of the last game to decide on the scenario for the following game and who would be attacking and defending. I can then go through the scenario book and pick an A or B possibility for the next game based on the winner. The rest would all be story arc to keep me entertained by what was going to happen next.

To get the best use out of the figures, I decided on three factions. The first would be the largest having the biggest concentration of all arms. The second would be the primary opponent having nearly as much infantry, but only half the artillery and cavalry. The third would be the forces used to augment the needs of the other two forces in any scenario. It had half the infantry of the others and an equal amount of cavalry and artillery as the second force. Each force was named and a general uniform was chosen. The primary is the Wolfenstein Empire in white uniforms loosely based on Austria. The second was the Union of Packs of the Commonwealth in blue uniforms. The third is the Principality of Mutt in red uniforms based somewhat on Hannover.

The Wolfenstein Empire

The Union of Pacts of the Commonwealth

The Principality of Mutt

STUCK INSIDE BUT VERY ACTIVE

Like most of the US I am under the Stay at Home order, so I am dedicating more time to game projects, specifically my Dog Wars. I was lucky that my latest units arrived just before the shutdown. I have been basing and creating flags, names, maps and the various other bits needed to run a campaign. I have now completed enough units to start playing games, but before I get to that I thought I would put some of the units on parade. Without further ado, here are some the Empire of Wolfenstein’s forces.

Wolfenstein Empire Banners

Empire Woofing's Battalion

Union of Packs Commonwealth Shakesalot's Rangers

I will be adding more unit pictures and an AAR of the Battle of Willow Road Bridge in the coming days as time permits.  

AND SO IT BEGINGS

This is an odd day since it only comes around once every four years and I wanted to take the opportunity to use it for something special. This is the first post on the beginning of my Dog Wars project.

For over thirty-five years I have wanted to have a collection of figures to game out all the scenarios from Charles S. Stewarts Wargames Scenarios and Programed Scenarios books. This is the start of this project. 

The first Brigade based with both artillery and light infantry in support. This is the first three line regiments lead by their converged grenadiers. 

When completed there will be twenty-four infantry regiments, eight regiments each of cuirassier, dragoons, and hussars, six light infantry regiments, eights batteries of medium and four batteries of heavy artillery. These are all based and organized for the Osprey Honours of War rules. Ah, the joys of a wildly ambitious project.

A New Year and New Projects.

Well 2019 has come and gone and I did get some work on older projects done. Now with the New Year I am adding a few more games to my list of goal.

The National Flags for Dog Wars

The BIG PROJECT: The Dog Wars for Honours of War (HoW). This is my 28mm Seven Years War ImagiNation project. This one is really big with twenty-four battalions of infantry and an additional four full battalions, or seven small of converged grenadier. Along with them will be eight regiments each of cuirassier, dragoons, hussars, plus eight batteries of artillery with their limbers. This was supposed to be done for the Holidays this past year, but inevitable delays came up. Things are well on track now.

 

A Very British Civil War 15mm Vehicles

Next up will be A Very British Civil War in 15mm. I found a bargain on some early war British and French tankettes, armored cars and tanks. I will be ordering figures to go with this sometime this Spring. This is a project I have been working the rules, campaign and organization on for several years. Time to pull the trigger and make this a game.

 

6mm Byzantines

Close up of the 6m infantry

Later in the year I will be revisiting 6mm ancient. Primarily this will be the Byzantines and Sassasnids, but it is just as likely to get a Tony Bath Hyborean treatment. I will most likely be writing my own rules for this. I also suspect that 28mm ancients will also rise like a phoenix with two companies creating new lines for Archimedean Persians.



Games Workshop will be dipping into my wallet with the release of the reimagined High Elves, the Lumineth Aelves. I have always had a fondness for the pointy eared troops and the new sculpting for this line is amazing. Everything but my back account can’t wait.  

 

Song of Ice and Fire Lannister Halberd

The rest of the goals are to continue, I never complete any of these as I am always adding on, with the main project of last year. These being adding to the Toy Soldiers, adding vehicles and infantry to my WWII 6mm forces, along with finishing play testing my rules. Painting up more of my medieval period 28mm thing, Lord of the Rings (LotR), Song of Ice and Fire (SIF), and 12^th century medieval. I have no delusions that all these things will get finish. They won’t. Nor that these are all my new projects. I know there will be things coming out throughout the year that will sing their sirens song and tempt me down another path.



Now back to basing 28mm figures.