Revolutionary Action in GHQ!

Back in the groove after our early summer recess Phil and I met up across the tabletop battlefield here in GHQ once more. We had agreed on a Wars of the French Revolution game using Black Powder Mk2 rules as is our usual go to now. As we are a bit rusty after a three week hiatus I set up a simple encounter battle between an Allied force of British, Hanoverian and Emigré units and the Revolutionary French hordes! The game length is set at 12 Turns as is our usual limit. Now, enough introduction, down into the action via the expected annotated photomontage ~

A view along the French lines as their army enters the table: Light Cavalry in the foreground; infantry Demi-Brigades in the centre and far right; Heavy Cavalry behind the right flank in the distance.

The leading French Demi-Brigades step off in Ordre Mixte, combining the fire power of the line with the shock impact of the column.

The French HQ makes its plans for a comprehensive defeat of the Allies before them. {Tent by Grand Manor, figures by Perry Miniatures and Boot Hill.}

French Heavy Artillery stands ready to soften up the Allied lines facing the French army as it deploys for the attack!

Looking along the Allied line: Heavy Cavalry in the foreground; two Brigades of British Infantry; a Hanoverian Brigade of Line and Light Infantry; a Light Cavalry Brigade of Emigré units on the army's far left wing.

Emigré Light Cavalry occupy the far left of the Allied line, hopefully a deterant to the French right which looks very strong as it deploys.

The Grand Old Duke of York urges the Hanoverian Infantry Brigade forward, without much success it must be said in the early game turns! {Figures from Trent Miniatures, Wargames Foundry, Castings Room Miniatures, Front Rank.}

The leading French Demi-Brigade advances, screened by a cloud of skirmishers and closely supported by Dragoons and Heavy Cavalry. {Figures by Trent Miniatures, Eureka Miniatures, Wargames Foundry and Casting Room Miniatures.}

The Heavy Cavalry and Dragoons in close support of the French infantry played a leading role in disrupting the Allied left wing as it struggled to engage the French infantry assault.

On the French left the Light Cavalry Brigade, supported by two batteries of Horse Artillery, advances with élan creating the long ridge dominating the Allied right wing where the Heavy Cavalry has proved sluggish in deployment.

First blood though to the Life Guards who smash into over enthusiastic Hussars and Rout them in short order!

Hanoverian Light Infantry braces itself for the inevitable French attack, throwing forward a screen of skirmishers to harass the French advance. As French Dragoons try to work around the Allied flank they are met by a reckless charge of the Hompesch Mounted Rifles!

Buoyed by their early success against the French Hussars the Life Guards sweep forward to attack the second line of the Lights. Victory here would seriously compromise the French left, but their casualties are already mounting after two rounds of melee.

Back on the Allied left wing the first crisis is passed. A combination of steady fire and the cold steel of the bayonet sees one column of the French Demi-Brigade thrown back in rout! The over confident Dragoons are also forced to retreat. The Allies have a breathing space on this flank but need supports.

The French renew the attack on the Allied left. The Hanoverian Light Infantry are Shaken by the violence of the assault but their morale is high and they fight on dogedly. Not so the Mounted Rifles who are routed by the supporting line of French Dragoons!

Despite dispatching the second line of Hussars the Life Guards are blown and a determined charge by the French Chasseurs sees them routed in short order. The advancing British infantry sensibly forms square for defence against the new threat.

Back on the Allied left the heroic Hanoverian Light Infantry defeat the remaining parts of the Demi-Brigade after a gruelling and drawn out melee. {They passed numerous Morale Checks despite losses!}

Meanwhile on the Allied right the situation changes yet again. Despite shaky morale the British Heavy Cavalry, the Kings Dragoon Guards and Scots Greys, see off the Chasseurs in short order. French élan it seems is no match for British grit!

In the centre of the line the British squares support one another to decisively repel attacks from both French Heavy Cavalry and infantry Demi-Brigades! 

Suddenly the morale of the French army collapses as losses see three of its six brigades Broken. Phil is forced to concede defeat and order the remnants of his army to retire. The Allies are victorious but too exhausted to follow up their victory; the French escape to fight another day!

A 'Slight' Swelling...

...has pretty much left me speechless. Anyone who knows me will tell you that's pretty rare too! I am by the by, if you were at all concerned, refering to the Lead Pimple, which has suddenly swollen considerably, and at no loss of treasure from the War Chest I must say. Early last week during one of our occasional text chats Aly Morrison asked me if I would like a few Eureka Miniatures Wars of the French Revolution figures which he'd decided were surplus to his needs. He included a picture of the packs in a box. Of course I accepted graciously, such kindnesses are one of the stand out points in our wonderful hobby. The figures duly arrived this Wednesday ~

It was a much bigger package than I'd expected and was worryingly much heavier than I thought it would be... So after some procrastination on my part I proceeded carefully to open it up ~

Removing the top layer of bubble wrap revealed 12 exquisitely painted French infantry. The standard of painting in evidence on them is way above my modest efforts! Using these will be a challenge, but I will most certainly give it a go... On to the next layer seen vaguely through the bubble  wrapping.

Two packs of flags! One of GMB Designs Austrian standards and one which on opening contained three sets of Flags of War French Revolutionary War standards. The final layer awaits now...

...Numerous carefully annotated bags of Eureka Miniatures figures! By this stage I was feeling a bit like Howard Carter on the day he first opened Tutankhamen's tomb! I carried the box carefully up to my desk, cleared away all the painting paraphernalia, and started to examine my wonderful gift in detail...

...which took me an hour or so! In all there are 215 items, hardly 'a few figures' by any measure, French and Austrian - both German and Hungarian variants! Included amongst the packs were Austrian Hussars, French Chasseurs à Cheval, artillery pieces & crew, mounted generals and ADCs, Grenadiers, Fusiliers, Carabiniers, Chasseurs! Two small armies really! It's certainly far more than the 'slight swelling' I mentioned back at the start, isn't it? And as a gift! Words fail me in the face of such undeserved generosity,as I said I'm speechless! Just to say 'Thank You!' seems almost crass, but there you go, 

"Thank you Aly, your kind gift is more than generous and much appreciated!"

Of course, stepping back just a little leaves time to reflect on the generous nature of many wargamers I've met down the years and what goes around comes around I've generally thought based on my own experiences. In the meantime the figures are sorted and stored in an annexe to the infamous Lead Pimple while I ponder on how and when to incorporate them into my vague aspirations on the painting front over the coming months! Not to mention how and where they will fit in to the storage in GHQ! Talk about First World problems...

Men at Work!

I was sitting quietly in GHQ contemplating the end of game situation in my latest outing in the Wars of the French Revolution setting when it struck me that there were some of my vignettes, aka fripperies, which hadn't really shown to advantage in the various in-game photos which populated my blog. So, without more ado here they are front and centre, hope you like them ~

From Wargames Foundry's SYW range, a group of C18th labourers. I added the small rocks from my Woodlands Scenics stock. The set also included a wooden finger post.

Of course, even in the C18th it seems you could not rely on getting a day's work for a day's pay from the average worker!

Any army needs to keep it's equipment up to snuff! From Eureka Miniatures I got this group featuring swords being sharpened and wheels being crafted. For the interested the Lion Head Fountain is from Iron Gate Scenics.

Similarly Eureka Miniatures do this rather snazzy Field Bakery set. The flour mill and surrounding items are from Iron Gate Scenics I think. Eureka Miniatures also have a butcher at work, a set I must pick up sometime I think.

Finally, no army can get far without either staff work or a commissary. From the left we have: Eureka Miniatures' Vivandiere and cart; Perry Miniatures French baggage waggon; two Perry Miniatures French staff officer sets; Trent Miniatures Représentant du Peuple; all around a Grand Manner Command Tent!

Reconnaissance in Strength

On Thursday last week Paul and I met up in GHQ for our first game of 2025. As the Wars of the French Revolution collection was at least partly out on the table I had decided to reuse the two forces, with a few additional units, and transpose the action to Northern Italy. Paul took command of the French who were making a reconnaissance in strength at the urging of the newly appointed commanding general, one Napoleon Bonaparte. I commanded the Austrians, who were representing the main army's vanguard. The Austrians were drawn up in a defensive posture around the small church of San Philippi. The French entered from the opposite base line ~

The game is limited to only six turns: if the French have not either beaten the Austrians, or got at least one fully formed unit off the table at the Austrian end, then the Austrians have the victory. We were using Black Powder Mk2 rules of course. Giving nothing away at this point the game went to the wire ~

As you can see in this picture, the main thrust of the French attack in the first two turns was against the weaker Austrian left flank resting on an area of thick woodland. The French Horse Artillery were soon into action in support of the attack, as were the Austrian Light Cavalry, which you can see in the first picture.

The battery of French 12lb Foot Artillery took longer to get into position, mixed up as it became with the French main attack on their right and the swirling cavalry melees in the centre.

The French pressed their attack on the Austrian left once the guns came into action, while their cavalry were driving the Austrian attack back in the centre protecting the attacker's flank.

The French attack on the Austrian right flank was initially less successful, although they did rout O'Donnell's Freikorps and in close quarter fighting destroy the Austrian battery of Light Artillery. The Austrians counterattacked gallantly as you can see in the following photo ~

It all came down to Turn 6 as the battle reached it's climax. On the Austrian right the position was being congested vigorously, with the French having little chance of breaking through. 

In the centre, although their cavalry had the upper hand overall, the French Dragoon Brigade had been routed. Again the French had no prospect of the breakthrough they needed to claim a victory.

On the Austrian left though the French had finally managed to make the breakthrough when the Grenz finally routed after a gallant defence, their loss seeing the Brigade become Broken and leaving the way open in Turn 6 for the French to claim a notable victory as their Infantry brigade matched off the table, flanking the Austrian position. The Austrians would have no choice now but to disengage and retire on the main army. More to come with this I think... In the meantime a few closeups which Paul has provided from the pictures he took at various points in the action.

The Austrian grenadiers are thrust into the action as the French overrun their supporting battery of Light Artillery.

The Hungarian infantry join in the counterattack as the Grenadiers are swiftly routed by the vigorous French assault columns.

On the Austrian left flank the French infantry assault columns drive off the second element in rout, breaking the Brigade.

The Austrian cavalry have been driven back in Disorder, despite several minor victories earlier in the battle. They could only watch on helplessly as the left flank crumbled.

Lead by their band and screened by a battalion of Legeré the French Demi-Brigade advances with colours flying confident of victory!

Despite minor victories against the French Hussards and Dragoons the Austrian cavalry were never able to land a decisive blow and break the French centre.

They may look imposing but they failed to deliver the telling blow!

Once again, Black Powder Mk2 delivered the game that was asked of it. Fortunes ebbed and flowed but in the end Turn 6 saw the French swept to victory as the Austrian morale wavered and then broke on their left leaving the impotent cavalry brigade threatened both to its front and left flank! The French were through and in the army's rear!

Return to the Wars of the French Revolution

On Monday Phil and I met up in GHQ for our prearranged weekly game. We had settled on a smallish Wars of the French Revolution battle pitting the French, commanded by Phil, against the Austrians, lead by yours truly. The rules would as usual be Black Powder and the game length set at Ten Turns. Each side had three Brigades: Light Infantry; Light Cavalry; and Line Infantry respectively. The French had two batteries of 4lb guns to support their attack, the Austrians one battery of 12lb guns. The French would receive a fourth brigade as reinforcements in Turn 5. Their objective was to command the higher ground on either side of the road bisecting the tabletop battlefield north to south.  As you've no doubt come to expect, an annotated photomontage follows which hopefully will carry you right in to the unfolding action ~

On the Austrian right the Hungarian infantry advance to the crest of a low ridge. The French 10th Demi-Brigade de Ligne is slow to pass through the farm in support of their artillery deploying on the low rise to their right.

On the Austrian left O'Donnell's Freikorps, supported by Grenz and a lone line battalion, advanced and give an ineffectual volley against the massed columns of French Legeré.

In the French centre the Light Cavalry Brigade moves forward to engage their Austrian opposite numbers supported by their Horse Artillery battery. In the distance the foot artillery is making heavy going as it attempts to reach the higher ground in support of the Legeré.

French Hussards and Austrian Hussars clash! Sabres flash, flesh is rent, the mass of cavalry swirls around seeking to throw back their foes.

The Austrian morale collapses as they get the worst of the action and they break and flee to the rear, all cohesion gone! First blood to the French!

On the Austrian left a second ineffectual volley from the Freikorps fails to halt the columns of French Legeré! It's down now to the cold steel of the bayonet! A second battalion is moving up to flank the Freikorps.

On the Austrian right the leading battalion of the Demi-Brigade crashes into the Austrian infantry. Fighting is fierce but indecisive at first.

In the centre a second cavalry action unfolds. Despite being out numbered the smaller unit of Emigre hussars crash into their larger

French counterparts and inflict serious losses on them.

The French Hussards' morale breaks and they flee for their lives. All along the Austrian front their army is standing steadfastly against the Revolutionary French!

Back on the Austrian left the Grenz have moved swiftly to prevent the Freikorps being flanked. Again though their ragged volley fails to halt the columns of Legeré who crash violently into their thin line. Fighting is raging all along this part of the line with only the understrength battalion of Line to support the Austrian effort.

The Freikorps are broken by the French and flee to the rear. The Grenz are now isolated and face a numerically superior enemy. If the Line do not throw the rampant French back the Austrian right will be turned.

In the centre the Grenadier battalion finds it's advance on the French Horse Artillery suddenly blocked by enemy cavalry. They form square hurriedly in an attempt to deter the charge!

The French Hussards charge home as the Grenadiers fail to give any closing fire as they lack sufficient time in their haste to deploy into square. The outcome of the ensuing melee is almost a foregone conclusion...

The Grenadiers suffer immense losses and becoming Shaken so it is no surprise that their morale crumbles and the Square is ridden down. Despite their victory, in the face of two steadfast Line units the Hussards do not risk a Sweeping Advance and opt instead to Rally Back.

On the Austrian right fighting is intense and casualties are mounting on both sides. Which side will break first may determine the outcome of the whole battle as the French look for their expected reinforcement to shore up their attack in this sector.

The Austrian losses mount and the battalion is forced to fall back both Disordered and Shaken! The French attack the Austrians supporting battalion with renewed belief!

The whole Demi-Brigade presses home the attack. There are no reinforcements available to shore up the line, they must hold the position at all costs.

On the Austrian right the Grenz are Shaken, meaning the Brigade is Broken. They and the understrength Line battalion must retire leaving the Austrian centre flanked. In an attempt to break the French centre before they are overwhelmed the Austrian and Emigre Light Cavalry move forward en masse. If they can throw back the French the battle may yet be won.

The Austrian right has not only held, but has repulsed the Demi-Brigade and driven them off Broken by losses and falling morale. The Austrians sense victory is within their grasp.

There is no respite to be had though as the French reinforcements arrive opposite the battle-worn Austrian right. With no hope of reinforcements and seeing their cavalry advance in the centre Broken the battle is lost!

Stirring music from the French Demi-Brigade's bandsmen and the loud cheering of the victorious French all along the line announces a great victory for their commanding general. He is spared an appointment with the guillotine...for now at least. As ever Black Powder gave us a splendid game where fortunes ebbed and flowed unpredictably until the Austrian morale finally collapsed. Look out for more from the Wars of the French Revolution here in GHQ in the coming days.