Incident on the border: The battle for the bridge
Posted: July 28, 2010 Filed under: Battle Report, Joseph Morschauser, Late 19th Century, Laurania, Maldacia, MIscellaneous musings, Uncategorized, Wargame Design 14 CommentsThe Maldacian Artillery Batteries were still too far away from the nearest Lauranian Units to open fire on them, but the Lauranian Artillery Battery was able to engage the central column of the Maldacian force. It targeted the hex occupied by the second Infantry Unit in the column. The Lauranians threw a 6, which meant that the Infantry Unit was hit; a further D6 die score of 4 ensured that it was destroyed!
D6 dice were again thrown by both sides to determine who would move first this turn. The Maldacians threw a 4 and the Lauranians threw a 3, and as a result the Maldacians therefore moved first yet again.
The leading Infantry Unit of the central column stormed across the bridge and engaged the Lauranian Border Guards who were protecting it. Both sides threw a D6 die; the Maldacians scored 2 and the Lauranians scored 5. As both Infantry Units had to score 5 or less to destroy the other, both Units were destroyed!
At the same time one of the Maldacian Infantry Units on their left flank reached the river and attempted to wade across it, but they only made it as far as the middle.
The Lauranians reacted to this by moving the Gatling Gun Battery up to the river’s edge, and firing at the Maldacian Infantry unit that was in the river. Both sides threw a D6 die; the Lauranians scored 4 and the Maldacians scored 6. Because the Gatling Gun Battery had to score 6 or less to destroy the Infantry Unit and the Infantry Unit had to score 5 or less to destroy the Gatling Gun Battery, the result was the destruction of the Maldacian Infantry Unit.
In addition to this move, the Lauranian commander moved all of his Infantry Units towards the village but not off the hill, as he felt that this still gave him an advantage.
Turn 5
The Maldacian Artillery Batteries were now able to engage the Lauranian Gatling Gun Battery, and both Maldacian Batteries targeted the hex it was in. The first Battery threw a 1, which meant that its shells had missed the hex; the second D6 die they threw was another 1, which indicated that the shell had gone over its target and hit an empty hex. The second battery then threw a 4, and its shells also missed the target hex. Its second D6 die score of 5 meant that the shells actually landed in the river, and were rather too close to one of their own Infantry Units!
The Lauranian Artillery Battery replied and targeted the hex occupied by the Maldacian commander! Their D6 die score of 2 meant that they missed the target hex, but the second D6 die that they threw was also a 2, so that the Battery’s shells hit the hex occupied by one of the right-hand Maldacian Infantry Units. When the third D6 die was thrown, its score of 2 determined that the Maldacian Infantry unit was destroyed!
D6 dice were thrown yet again by both sides to determine who would move first this turn. The Maldacians threw a 5 and the Lauranians threw a 6, with the result that the Lauranians moved first.
The Lauranian commander now decided to commit his Infantry Battalion to the battle, and it advanced downhill and into the village.
The Maldacians responded by falling back. Their commander realised that in order to fulfil his orders he would have to take further casualties, and as his force had already lost over 40% of its Infantry Units, it was becoming increasingly obvious that success would be bought at too high a price … especially as the two countries were not actually in a state of war! He would make this clear in the secret report he would write to the Minister of War … along with a long memo about the need for more training by the Artillery.
Conclusions
The rules as adapted for use with my Heroscape hexes work well, although I think that Infantry Units should be able to fight each other at slightly longer ranges. I have seen this in adaptations of the ‘Frontier’ wargames rules for both the Napoleonic and American Civil War periods, and this would be a logical next step for me to take in developing my version of the rules.
I do like the Artillery rules, and this play-test showed how well they can work. However, I think that the definition of what is and is not ‘Artillery’ would be necessary if I were to develop the ‘Frontier’ rules for later historical periods. For example, tank guns would not be classed as ‘Artillery’ whereas mortars might be.
It gives me something to think about for the next few weeks … if and when I get the time!
Incident on the border: The early moves
Posted: July 28, 2010 Filed under: Joseph Morschauser, Late 19th Century, Laurania, Maldacia, Wargame Design Leave a commentAs neither side’s artillery was in range the turn began with both sides throwing a D6 die to determine who moved first. The Maldacians threw a 6 and the Lauranians threw a 3; therefore the Maldacians moved first.
The Maldacian force continued to move forward in their existing formation, with the Artillery Batteries sandwiched between the Infantry Battalion columns.
Other than to advance the Gatling Gun Battery closer to the river so that it was better placed to deny the advancing Maldacians an easy crossing, the Lauranian commander decided to keep his forces where they were. He felt that by remaining on the heights above the village and the bridge over the river, his troops were better placed to fight off any Maldacian attack.
Turn 2
Although both sides were now closer to each other, none of the artillery was in range. The Maldacians threw a 3 and the Lauranians threw a 4 to determine who moved first; on this occasion the Lauranians had the option to move first, but decided that they would remain where they were.
The Maldacians moved forward once again, and did not change formation.
Turn 3
The leading right-hand Unit of the Maldacian Infantry was now in range of the Lauranian Artillery Battery, and the Lauranians opened fire on it. They threw a D6 die to see if they hit the target hex; the score was a 2, so the shell missed the target hex. They threw another D6 die to see where the shell did land, and the score of 1 caused it to land in the hex behind the target hex, which was occupied by another Maldacian Infantry Unit. A further D6 die was then thrown, and the score was 4; the Maldacian Infantry Unit was destroyed!
D6 dice were thrown by both sides to determine who would move first this turn. The Maldacians threw a 6 and the Lauranians threw a 5; the Maldacians therefore moved first again.
Enraged by the loss of one of his Infantry units, the Maldacian commander galloped forward and ordered his two flank columns to change to a more dispersed formation. He also ordered the central to assault and take the bridge over the river and then to seize the village.
Incident on the border: The initial positions
Posted: July 27, 2010 Filed under: Battle Report, Joseph Morschauser, Late 19th Century, Laurania, Maldacia 4 CommentsThe Scenario
As was normal in that part of the World, relations between Laurania and her neighbour, Maldacia, had deteriorated again. The most recent squabble resulted from the arrest of a Maldacian who had bought a defunct mine just over the border in Laurania. He had decided to fly the Maldacian flag above the newly re-painted mine buildings, something that was not allowed under Lauranian law without a permit. The local police tried to persuade him to remove it, but he refused, and in the intervening scuffle one of the policemen was injured. The Maldacian was arrested for assaulting a police officer, and incarcerated in the local jail.
Although the Maldacian miner was released once tempers had cooled down, news had already reached Maldacia and several spontaneous demonstrations were held throughout the country. Some of these demonstrations degenerated into riots where the Lauranian flag was burnt and Lauranians visiting Maldacia were assaulted. When the Lauranians responded with a strong diplomatic note that protested about the attacks on Lauranian citizens and requested compensation for them, the Maldacian Minister of War sent an enciphered message to the commander of the troops stationed near the border with Laurania. This message told him in no uncertain terms to ‘cross the border and give those damn Lauranians a taste of something that they won’t forget in a hurry.’
He responded by rapidly mobilising an Infantry Brigade of three Infantry Battalions and two Artillery Batteries and moving them up to and then over the border. He intended to capture a small village near Castramonta, drive the local inhabitants out, and then burn it to the ground. The village, which was built near to a bridge over one of the fast-flowing mountain rivers, was well known in the region for the anti-Maldacian sentiments of its inhabitants, and the Maldacians hoped that its destruction would send a strong message to all Lauranians not to annoy their northern neighbour.
The Lauranian Secret Service actually managed to decipher the message from the Ministry of War to the commander of the troops stationed near the border with Laurania before it reached its intended recipient, and the Lauranian garrison at Turga – an Infantry Battalion, a Gatling Gun Battery, and an Artillery Battery – was hastily sent along the mountain road towards Castramonta to intercept the Maldacians. It reached the high ground just above the village as the Maldacians began the descent into the river valley. The stage was now set for a battle.
The Initial Positions
The situation at the start of the battle. The Maldacians – whose uniforms a very similar to those worn by the Austro-Hungarian Army – can be seen advancing from the right towards the river and the village in three columns, each made up of an Infantry Battalion. Between each column is an Artillery Battery. The Lauranians – who bear an uncanny resemblance to the Prussians – can be seen occupying the heights on the left of the picture, although the Gatling Gun Battery has been pushed forward to guard the Lauranian right flank. The village is occupied by a Company of Lauranian Border Guards.
Heroscape and Morschauser’s ‘Frontier’ wargames rules
Posted: July 27, 2010 Filed under: Joseph Morschauser, MIscellaneous musings, Wargame Design Leave a commentLast night, as I was dozing off to sleep, I was struck by the thought that with a few minor changes to the Artillery Rules I could adapt Joseph Morschauser’s ‘Frontier’ wargames rules so that I could use them with my Heroscape terrain. When I woke up this morning I had a working solution in my head and sat down to set it down on paper.
The solution is as follows:
- After nominating the target hex the artillery is firing at, throw a D6 die.
- If the score is 5 or 6, any Unit in the target hex is hit and further D6 die is thrown to adjudge the effect:
- Direct artillery fire:
4 or 6: Destroys a Command stand.
2, 4, or 6: Destroys any other stand.
Indirect artillery fire:
6: Destroys a Command stand.
4 or 6: Destroys any other stand. - If the score is 1, 2, 3, or 4, a further D6 die is thrown to see which hex the artillery fire lands in.
- If there is a Unit in the hex that the artillery fire lands in that Unit is hit, and the procedure laid down above for adjudging the effect is used.
I hope to try this out mechanism later today … but first I have to take my wife to the dentist for some emergency treatment!
Busy, busy, busy …
Posted: July 26, 2010 Filed under: MIscellaneous musings Leave a commentMy plans to have a quick wargame this morning had to be shelved because I had to do some work on the company accounts before the end of the financial year on 31st July. This involved a visit to the bank, something that always takes longer than expected. Today I got stuck in a queue behind several people who were paying in large amounts of cash on behalf of their companies … and the procedure of checking, re-checking, and then correcting the mistakes that had been made took almost thirty minutes. By the time my simple transactions had taken place, the queue of people waiting to see a cashier went out of the door!
My wife and I then went to see my father-in-law who lives in Herne Bay, Kent. This is a return journey of 115 miles, and the drive usually takes just over an hour each way … but today we had to visit the local cash-and-carry warehouse first to buy him a load of things that he wanted. This added quite a bit of time to our journey as the warehouse is in the opposite direction from the route we take to Herne Bay.
During our journey to Herne Bay we managed to grab some lunch at Chatham, but when we arrived at our destination my father-in-law announced that he had to go to visit a friend who is in hospital in Canterbury. We unloaded all the things we had bought for him, and then had a quick chat before he set off to the hospital.
The drive home was somewhat more fraught than the drive to Herne Bay, as the roads seem to have been invaded by large numbers of foreign lorries and coaches. Rather than being able to drive at a steady 65-70 mph most of the way home, my speed was going up and down like a yo-yo as lorries or coaches pulled out – usually with little or no warning – and overtook each other at slow speed on the two-lane motorway. By the time I got home I was tired and very fed-up, and not in the best of moods.
However, my wife assures me that things will be better tomorrow, so with a bit of luck I might actually manage to fight the wargame that I have promised myself.
Ministry of Space: Science Fiction or Alternative History?
Posted: July 25, 2010 Filed under: MIscellaneous musings 2 CommentsIt is hardly surprising, therefore, that when I saw a copy of the graphic novel MINISTRY OF SPACE (Titan Books [2004] ISBN: 1 84023 924 7) on the bookshelves of my local bookshop, I bought a copy … and I am very pleased that I did.
The whole style of the book is very reminiscent of the Dan Dare stories, both in the quality of the illustration and the very real ‘feel’ of the incidents and equipment that is portrayed. It is very apparent from the notes written by Warren Ellis – the story’s author – that he drew his inspiration from the Dan Dare stories created by Frank Hampson and his team of writers and illustrators for THE EAGLE. The people who created MINISTRY OF SPACE – Warren Ellis (Writer), Chris Weston (Artist), Laura Martin (Colorist), and Michael Heisler (Letterer) – have done a magnificent job.
But this is no children’s tale. It tells the story of Britain’s space programme – an orbital rocket-plane by 1950, the building of an orbital a space-station from 1953 onwards, a Moon landing in 1956, and colonisation of Mars in 1969 … but it has a very dark side to it as well.
The story is told in two parallel strands; one tells of the development of the Royal Space Force and its success whilst the other tells the story of the man who made it all happen – Sir John Dashwood – and how he financed the whole thing using gold ‘liberated’ from the Germans. But the gold is tainted because it is the proceeds of the Holocaust, and this secret is about to be exposed by the ‘new boys on the block’ – the Americans.
I like this book because it was not just an entertaining ‘read’; it posed a series of morale problems that have more than an element of reality to them. What would have happened if Britain had got hold of all Germany’s rocket scientists in 1945? Would Churchill have agreed to us ‘tainted’ finances to keep the UK as a major World Power if the opportunity had arisen? Would Britain have recovered from her near-bankrupt state and emerged as a economic powerhouse on the back of a successful space programme? Would that success have kept the UK politically and socially stagnant as a result?
I am not sure if this is a science fiction book or an alternative history book. Whichever it is, however, I enjoyed it, and I would certainly recommend it.
After all these years …
Posted: July 25, 2010 Filed under: Chaco War, Early 20th Century, MIscellaneous musings 4 Comments
I found my copy via Amazon, ordered it, and it was delivered whilst I was in Norway. As the book has been out of print for many years, the copy I bought was second-hand, having originally been gifted in 1973 to Seminole Library, Seminole, Florida. It has ‘Withdrawn’ stamped inside the front cover, and they must have sold it on to the bookseller from whom I bought it.
I have yet to begin reading this book. Having looked for a copy for so long, I don’t want to rush the process; I want to savour and enjoy it.
Oh, and if you are wondering what will happen once I have read it … well, I was recently asked if I might write a short book about the Chaco War, and now that I have added this book to my resources, I don’t think that I can refused.
COW2010: More images of the Joseph Morschauser Session
Posted: July 24, 2010 Filed under: Colonial, COW (Conference of Wargamers), Joseph Morschauser, Late 19th Century Leave a comment
This photograph was taken whilst I was giving words of advice and guidance to Jonathan Crowe during his battle with Ian Mitchell. Dick Scholefield (seated on the right) seems more interested in what is going on in the neighbouring battle than in his own, a situation that a very determined Bob Bowman looks to be about to make worse!
This is a close-up of the battle between Jonathan Crowe (who commanded the Anglo-Egyptian forces) and Ian Mitchell (who led the Mahdists). The simple terrain was quick to set-up and take down, and the players all seemed to enjoy the experience of trying out these wargames rules.
I have been to … Norway
Posted: July 24, 2010 Filed under: Cruising, I have been to ..., MIscellaneous musings 2 CommentsDay 1: Southampton
The drive down to Southampton took just over two hours, and we were pleasantly surprised by the speed with which our luggage was hustled away by a porter, the car was handed over to the parking service, and we were checked in and able to pass through the security system. In fact the whole process took less than thirty minutes from when we got out of the car until when we sat down in one of the ship’s numerous bars for a free glass of champagne and plate of filled rolls.
After listening to the obligatory safety lecture from the Captain, we unpacked and had just enough time to reach the Promenade Deck as the ship moved away from the quay. Our passage out of Southampton took us past the No Man’s Land Fort (a sight that I have seen so many times as I have sailed out towards the English Channel) …
… and then on to the Nab Tower.
Something that I had not noticed before was what looked like a smaller version of No Man’s Land Fort that was situated nearer to the Isle of Wight. I think that it is St Helen’s Fort, but I may well be wrong.
We then sailed towards the French side of the Channel so that the ship could pass through the Straits of Dover in the correct traffic lane, and as we went to bed we could see the lights of Boulogne very clearly to the starboard side of the ship.
Day 2: At sea
After a good night’s rest we spent the day relaxing as we sailed across the North Sea. Other than quite a large number of oil and gas rigs – some of which looked as if they were longer functioning – we saw little in the form of other ships except for the occasional rig supply vessel.
During the morning we attended an illustrated talk about the history of P&O. The lecturer – who is also the Deputy Cruise Manager – explained how the company developed from a shipping line with one ship that carried the mail from the UK to Spain and Portugal in the first half of the nineteenth century into being a major part of the largest cruise operators in the World. Of particular interest was the section about P&O’s ships during the First and Second World Wars. It was a P&O ship that carried a large part of the force sent to capture Tanga in German East Africa during World War I, and it was P&O’s Rawalpindi – which had been re-armed so that it could act as an Armed Merchant Cruiser – that took on the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau when they attacked the convoy she was escorting. He then moved on to the part played by two P&O ships during the Falklands War of 1982 – the Canberra (also known as the ‘Great White Whale’) and the Uganda. The former was used as a troopship, and carried 40 Commando and the Parachute Regiment south to the war zone, and the latter was used as a hospital ship.
After lunch I read a couple of chapters of a murder-mystery set in the period just after the Great Fire of London – THE FROST FAIR – as well as re-reading Joseph Morschauser’s ‘Frontier’ wargames rules to make sure that I had a full grasp of the game mechanisms he used before beginning work on the latest draft of my INTERBELLUM wargames rules.
Day 3: Bergen
We arrived in Bergen to find that the weather was damp with low cloud and light rain, which is not surprising as this city gets rain on most days of the year!
This is the only place where we had booked to go on an organised tour … and it was called ‘Panoramic Bergen and Mount Fløien’. It actually turned out to better than we had hoped, considering that the weather. The tour of the city was pleasant, and we were able to stop a couple of times to take photographs of some historic buildings. The latter included King Håkon’s Hall …
… and the Rosenkrantz Tower.
The latter was built to defend Bergen from potential attackers, but my researches indicate that it was never used for that purpose.
We also visited the house built by Norway’s first Prime Minister before making our way to the lower end of the funicular railway that goes to the top of Mount Fløien. The lower boarding area looked like something from the film WHERE EAGLES DARE, as it was up a long tunnel cut into the solid rock and into which the carriage seemed to come at great speed, only slowing very abruptly for the last twenty or thirty feet.
Having reached the top of Mount Fløien, we found that the cloud was obscuring any view that we might have had over Bergen. It cleared temporarily for a few minutes, and during that break in the cloud we were able to get a reasonable look at Bergen from nearly 1,000 feet up … and very impressive it was.
We then made our way down – again by the funicular railway – and we chose to leave the tour at that point so that we could walk through the city for a while. We visited the fish market and were also able to visit to a few shops, but prices in Norway are even higher than in the UK, so our purchases were restricted to some postcards.
After our return to the ship we spent what remained of the day reading and catching up on our sleep, although we were awake in time to see the ship cast off and move sedately down the fjord towards out next destination … Flåm.
Day 4: Flåm
Our route to Flåm took the ship up the longest and deepest fjord in Norway; Sognefjord. Flåm turned out to be very small … in fact it was little more than a railway station – the terminus of the scenic Flåm Railway – a small railway museum, some gift shops, a couple of restaurants and cafés, and a hotel at the head of the fjord.
We decided to go ashore by tender and have a look round, but it began to rain quite heavily almost as soon as the tender left the ship, and by the time we reached the shore it was torrential. We spent some time looking in the shops, but there was little that appealed to either of us, and again our purchases were limited to postcards. The small museum that was attached to the railway station was much more interesting, and we spent some time looking at the various exhibits.
The fjord is different from those I have seen before as its sides are quite steep and rocky. Looking aft down the fjord I was reminded of those war films where British bombers were sent on suicide missions to bomb German installations in occupied Norway. One could almost imagine the roar of Rolls-Royce Merlin engines echoing along the fjord as a squadron of De Havilland Mosquitoes flew down it towards their target.
We spent the evening sailing back down the fjord. Because we are so far north it remained light until almost 11 o’clock and we could pick out various places along our route to Olden.
Day 5: Olden
Olden lies in one of the arms of Nordfjord, and is somewhat larger than Flåm. It has a small church and several shops, and is the centre of a farming community that produces milk and milk products.
The weather had not improved since we left Flåm, and it rained almost all day. Rather than risk getting too wet walking into the centre of Olden, we took the local sightseeing road-train (i.e. a small tractor unit and two covered-in trailer coaches). The hour-long journey went up one side of the valley the fjord is in and down the other side, and we were able to see – and photograph – the local scenery. This included an ancient stone bridge over the local river. The river was very high and flowing at great speed due to both the rain and the water from the glacier that is situated at the head of the valley. The glacier is, in fact, the largest on the European continental mainland, and had the weather not been quite so bad we might have visited it. We hope to return to Olden next year, and – if the weather is somewhat more clement – to visit the glacier.
I managed to spend some time finishing reading the Restoration murder-mystery THE FROST FAIR, and began to read Margery Allingham’s SWEET DANGER. This is set during the interwar era, and features her hero – Albert Campion – in a story about finding the rightful heir to a small Balkan kingdom called Averna. This reminded me that I still need to complete my map of Maldacia, and I hope to do some work on it later during this cruise.
During the evening we cruised back down Nordfjord on our way to our final destination in Norway, Stavanger.
Day 6: Stavanger
We sailed south overnight, and arrived alongside in Stavanger at 8.15 am. The weather was overcast, and there was some rain. This gradually moved away, and by just after lunchtime the sun was shining and the air temperature rose.
We went ashore during the latter part of the morning and went for a walk around the older parts of Stavanger. We saw – but did not enter – the Guards Museum. This is a tall tower that was built on the highest point in the old town of Stavanger, and it was used by the Town Guard as a lookout point to protect the harbour and to spot any fires that might threaten to spread and burn down the wooden buildings that made up most of the town.
After doing some window shopping, we visited the Stavanger Maritime Museum. This is housed in one of the older, wooden buildings by the quayside, and it dates from the period between 1770 and 1840. It is split into four floors, with the first telling the story of how Stavanger developed as a fishing and trading port. The first floor concentrates on the shipbuilding industry in Stavanger, and has numerous displays of shipbuilder’s tools and models of ships; it also has a reconstruction of a typical 1910 General Store. The second floor contains further reconstructions, this time of a shipping office dating from 1977 and a typical Stavanger merchant’s home from the nineteenth century. The attic houses a reconstruction of an old sail loft. This is a delightful small museum, and is part of the larger Stavanger Museum.
We returned aboard in time for a later lunch and then spent a couple of hours relaxing in the sun before going below to our cabin. I then got ready for dinner after spending an hour or so working on the draft of an interwar version of Joseph Morschauser’s ‘Frontier’ wargames rules, and I hope to continue with this project tomorrow.
Day 7: At sea
The weather remained overcast during most of the day, but the sun did manage to break through occasionally. The temperature was warm enough for us to sit out on deck for some time, and I managed to finish reading SWEET DANGER.
I was able to do some work on my interwar version of Joseph Morschauser’s ‘Frontier’ wargames rules, but the need to begin packing our luggage so that it could be collected ready for tomorrow’s disembarkation meant that I was not able to do as much as I had hoped, and the draft remained unfinished.
Day 8: Southampton
We awoke to find that we were already moored alongside in Southampton, and after packing our hand luggage – the majority of our luggage having already been collected overnight and sent ashore – we had our last cooked P&O breakfast of the voyage.
The drive home was uneventful and took just over two hours, despite it being the first weekend of the school Summer holidays when road traffic is usually very dense.
Artillery in Morschauser’s ‘Frontier’ wargames rules
Posted: July 16, 2010 Filed under: Early 20th Century, Interbellum, Joseph Morschauser, Wargame Design 1 CommentI also like the very simple system for artillery not to quite hit what it is aiming at. This, coupled with the possibility that getting too close to an enemy Unit that your own artillery is firing at could result in a ‘blue-on-blue’ incident, makes it quite an interesting mechanism. I am therefore seriously thinking of incorporating this mechanism in the next draft of my INTERBELLUM wargames rules.
WARGAMING MISCELLANY 