Uncle Duke's Napoleonette

For some nostalgia, I am posting this account from March 2005, when we had Al-Con at Uncle Duke's house and played Uncle Duke's Napoleonette, or UDN. UDN was actually inspired by a set of 18th Century rules called Lace Wars, which are available free on the internet at this link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0-_LMmXX3FSb2pFdU1FZlU3YlU/view?usp=sharing

Our buddy Jeff modified the Lace Wars rules for some 15mm Grand scale Napoleonic games that we had. The intent was that rules should be easy to learn and play, with a historical feel. We had several enjoyable games with these rules using lots of troops, and the games usually ended within 4 hours or so. Uncle Duke liked the game so much, he called them the best Napoleonic rules he had ever played, which was certainly high praise. However, Uncle Duke then toyed around with the rules and developed his own, much more detailed version, or UDN. Duke's 15mm Napoleonic figures were from his own line of Heritage Napoleonic Miniatures called Napoleonettes, hence the name Napoleonette in UDN. Below are some photos of our pre-publication play test game. Finally, I thought it would be good to prove that someone actually played these rules.

The game was played on Uncle Duke's famous 2' x 2' terrain squares on a 12' x 6' table. The Bavarian town of Krankenstaadt in the background. Click on the photos to enlarge.

French commanders Prince Pavlik of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw (actually Mr. Bob on the left) and Marshall Jeffrie (Jeff on the right) and your's truely. The troops operated in large regimental units with bases holding many miniatures. We use Uncle Duke's famous movement sticks, which are more fun to use than rulers.

Marshall Jeffrie is taunting the Austrians, explaining why they are inferior to the French. Uncle Duke (right) looks downcast & pondering what will happen next, since he has Austrian heritage.

Hapsburg Archdukes William (Mr. Bill to the left) and Allen (Al to the right) commanded the inferior Austrians.

The inferior Austrian cavalry charges across the table towards the French right flank.



Uncle Duke observes Archdukes William and Allen moving their inferior Austrians forward. Archduke Allen is trying hard to stay awake after a night of partying in Vienna.

Marshall Jeffrie is admiring his troops and grinning over the impending victory, as they advance towards the hapless Austrians.

A panorama of the battle of Krankenstaadt. I thought the best thing about this game was how the troops looked.

A division of inferior Austrian infantry advancing.

Another view of the battle from the opposite side of the table. Note that each regiment has name labels and organizational information on the back of each unit.

Prince Pavlik observes Archduke Allen rolling dice to ensure he doesn't re-roll the results he doesn't like. Archduke Allen's cavalry was decimated by Prince Pavlik's troops, however the Austrian cavalry under Archduke William made very un-Austrian like manoevers on the French left, which you can just see on the lower right of the photo.

Inferior Austrian Grenzer Infantry.

Inferior Hungarian infantry deploying into line formation from thier regimental bases, supported by brown coated inferior Austrian artillery. Austrian artillery uniforms were obviously easier to keep clean than infantry uniforms.

Another overview of the battle of Krankenstaadt. Note that the French left flank (lower right in the photo) is turned in from inferior Austrian cavalry attacks.

The final photo of the battle, with Archduke William now moving his troops around the French left flank. How could the inferior Austrians do this to the French? Probably bad die rolling. Archduke Allen and Prince Pavlik have fought to a draw on the other flank.

The Battle of Flodden, September 9, 1513

Our most recent miniatures game was to re-create the Battle of Flodden, which was a Battle fought between the Scots and the English on September 9, 1513. It was the largest battle in numbers that was fought between the two nations.

The war started when Scottish King James IV, an ally of France, declared war on England in order to divert English troops from France, where English King Henry V was already engaged in a war against the French. The battle was actually fought near the English town of Branxton in Northumberland.

The Scottish troops were generally armed with the pike and fought in deep columns similar to the Swiss. The Scots also had some large artillery pieces and Highland troops who fought in irregular formations. The main English infantry fought in less dense formations using a weapon called a bill, which was a shorter pole-arm that had a large heavy axe-head, similar to a halberd.  The English also had smaller but more maneuverable artillery that could fire more rapidly. They also still had what had been a staple of English armies for 500 years, the longbow men.

For our game, the rules we used are modified DBA rules. To reflect the effectiveness of English artillery, they were allowed to fire in their own and in their opponents turn, while the Scots could only fire once every other turn. Scottish highlanders could fight as war bands and as bowmen, since they behaved as both under the DBA rules. The Scots started the game deployed on a hill as in real life, while the English deployed opposite.

Above is the initial deployment of the armies, the Scots on the left, the English on the right. Playing the Scots were Ralph & Dave. Playing the English were Al, Uncle Duke, and Ken. Mr. Bob was the referee. Click on photos to enlarge.

 The Scots deployed on the hill in front of the English.

The English line preparing to advance

 Both armies on the move, the Scots staying near the edge of the low hill.

Scottish Highlanders on the right flank were facing the English longbows, but were outflanked by the light English cavalry and eventually destroyed.

The Scots on the left flank advanced and crushed the English to their front. Each side had defeated one flank and lost the other.

As the English left began to turn-in towards the Scottish right, English artillery made itself felt and the element containing King James (yellow Scottish flag in the photo on the left) was destroyed and James was killed. This ended the battle.

Below is a link to a series of videos called "Two Men in a Trench," some archeologists who investigate the Flodden battlefield:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCw-0wjo7xk&index=5&list=PL7F1B722D766E2484

Below is a short video "The Battle of Flodden Fields."

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCw-0wjo7xk&index=5&list=PL7F1B722D766E2484

Battle of Belmont, November 7, 1861

The Battle of Belmont was the first combat test of the Civil War for Union General Ulysses S Grant, who faced Confederate General Gideon Pillow. Both Grant & Pillow were veterans of the Mexican War and fought together in that war. The Battle of Belmont (according to Wikipedia):


On November 6, Grant sailed from Cairo, Illinois, to attack the Confederate fortress at Columbus, Kentucky. The next morning, he learned that Confederate troops had crossed the Mississippi River to Belmont, Missouri. He landed his men on the Missouri side and marched to Belmont. Grant's troops overran the Confederate camp and destroyed it. However, the scattered Confederate forces quickly reorganized and were reinforced from Columbus. They then counterattacked, supported by heavy artillery fire from across the river. Grant retreated to his riverboats, and took his men to Paducah, Kentucky. The battle was minor, but with little happening elsewhere at the time, it received considerable attention in the press.

Map of the Battle of Belmont

The Battle of Belmont was the scenario for our group’s recent American Civil War (ACW) battle using 28mm miniatures. The rules we use are the Perry Rules, which are included in boxes of Perry Miniatures 28mm plastic ACW miniatures. The table for our battle was 12’ x 5.’ No one was aware before the game what battle we were going to re-enact.


The Confederate side:
Al – a retired Postal Worker from Belvedere IL.
Uncle Duke – a world famous wargamer, cool jazz musician, and retired carpet cleaning renaissance man from Janesville WI.
Bill – a retired factory worker from beautiful downtown Glendale Heights IL.


The Union side:
Ralph – a food product salesman, who likes to play the attacking side.
Dave – a Postal worker from Wheaton IL, who hopes his paychecks won’t bounce.


Ken, an attorney from St. Charles IL, designed the scenario we were about to play way back in the early 1970’s. Bob, a retired airline employee and bass guitarist from Glendale Heights IL, assisted Ken and together they both acted as our umpires. The game was played at Ralph’s home in St. Charles IL.


Our Battle of Belmont began with the Union forces tasked to advance on the Confederate camp outside of Belmont. Union forces consisted of 5 infantry regiments, 2 artillery batteries, and 2 companies of cavalry. The Yankees were told that this force is all they would have available for the entire battle. However in order to confuse the Confederates, twice as many Union troops were staged near the table appearing to be reinforcements that would arrive later. The Confederates had no forces that could be seen when the battle began and their actual strength was unknown, but also had many troops staged near the table.

The Battlefield looking south towards the Confederate camp near Belmont

The Union plan was to advance across the front with infantry, screened by a pickett line of cavalry.

When the cavalry crossed over the ridge in the center of the battlefield, a Confederate Infantry regiment was revealed to be deployed blocking the main road.

The Union pushed one of their infantry regiments over the ridge to engage the Confederates while moving their cavalry around the enemy flanks. In the Perry rules, units get only one operation per turn (move, fire, charge, etc.).

The Confederate regiment volley inflicted 10 casualties on the Union regiment, forcing it to retire. However, the Union cavalry was in position to envelope the Rebs, with more troops coming up in support.

The Union cavalry charges the Confederate infantry regiment. However, the Rebels bested the Yankees and drove-off the cavalry, both receiving heavy casualties. The Rebel regiment then fell back towards Belmont.

Rebel troops crossed the river from Kentucky and began coming forward from Belmont towards the enemy line.

The Union pressed forward, but it was now obvious that they would not be able to take the Confederate camp as the Rebel troop numbers now nearly equalled thier own.

On about turn 9, Union gunboats in the Mississippi River (not seen) began shelling the Confederate camp. After 2 turns of shelling the camp, the Rebels became demoralized and withdrew towards their camp while their shore batteries across the river in Kentucky engaged the Union gunboats. In the photo above, the Union is trying to fire at the retreating Rebels.

On turn 13, the Union gunboats had withdrawn and the Rebels ferried more troops across the river to Belmont and further upstream (see above left). The Rebels went over to the attack.

Being outnumbered, General Grant changed the Union orders, and their instructions were to now retreat to their base line and avoid further casualties. The Union commanders about faced their infantry, formed columns and moved away at the double. The rebels could not catch them.

The outcome of the battle: the Union lost their 2 small cavalry companies and had all their infantry units intact, though one regiment had suffered over 50% casualties. The Rebels lost one infatry regiment. Neither side could claim a decicive victory, as in real life. 
 
A word on the Perry Rules: These rules are driven by 6 sided dice. All movement and combat is determined by dice. Infantry move by rolling 2 dice. Cavalry double their dice throw for movement distances. For firing and melee, one die is rolled per figure firing or in melee. Units test morale whenever they receive casualties.

Further note: the cornfields seen in the photos were harvested during the time of the battle.

The Day the Sun Stood Still - Gettysburg

Below is a video to get us motivated for our next miniatures game. Video clips of the movie Gettysburg, music by Travis Tritt.

Parthians vs Romans, sometime around 54 BC

Last Saturday, we had a Parthian vs. Roman battle using 28mm figures and modified DBA rules. DBA is a popular game here in the US, and there are many tournaments around the country. We are not tournament gamers (I used to be), so we try to have interesting games that are a little more than just lining up each army and crashing into each other. Present for the game was Al (the host), Bob, Ken, Mike, Bill, and I (Dave).

The battlefield that the Parthian and Romans fought over was mostly arid steppe or desert, without much in the way of terrain. Our battlefield had a few hills (made with ½ inch dense Styrofoam that was spray painted) placed on a felt mat that was also spray painted. The table was 8’x5,’ played in Al’s eat-in kitchen, at his home in Belvedere IL.

The Romans entered the board from one end in a march column of 4 Legions with light infantry and cavalry support, and some Scorpion bolt shooters (ancient artillery). The Parthians came on random locations of the table in 3 commands, the first two coming on behind the Roman right rear flank.

The Romans decided when the game began that they would halt in place and wait to see where the Parthians would appear. This was a fortunate decision, as they were able to react to the 2 Parthian commands in their rear before being strung out and away from a table edge. (NOTE: Unlike real battles, table edges in miniature battles help one to avoid being outflanked). The Roman right flank turned and soon, they formed a line against the Parthian cavalry. See the photo below:

The Roman right flank turns to face the Parthians. (Click on photo to enlarge)

The Roman light infantry archers engaged the Parthian light horse in an archery contest (unlike the DBA rules, we allow light troops to use missile fire; however we haven’t completely worked out how the missile fire effects should work).  The Roman light infantry are in the foreground in the photo below. The Roman Legionaries with green and blue shields are behind.

The next picture below shows an overhead shot of the Roman right flank just before the Parthian light horse hit the archers. The Roman Legion in column in the right rear of the photo with red shields was deploying to eventually form a line perpendicular to the first, to face the flank where the 3^rd Parthian command was expected to appear (it did, but not until turn 6).

Below is another shot of the Legion with red shields.

There are no more pictures of this battle, since your author’s camera battery went dead, and our host Al wouldn’t let me use the batteries from the remote control. In summary, the Parthians pushed the Roman right flank back and decimated the light infantry on that side. The Parthians in the center harassed the Legions until they pressed forward, forcing the light horse to mostly flee. The Parthian heavy cataphract cavalry moved forward to counter, and began overrunning some of the Legionaries. The 3^rd Parthian command arrived on the scene and pressed unsuccessfully against the Roman left (the Roman line was in an L shape). The game was called when exhaustion set in on both sides with no clear victor.

We are currently discussing how we will re-work some of the rules for the next time, though the game and scenario itself seemed somewhat balanced. The beautifully painted figures are by Al (the Romans) and Bob (the Parthians).

Battles with Model Soldiers

This blog is about a group of guys from Northern Illinois/Southern Wisconsin who get together periodically to play miniature wargames; or small battles on a tabletop with model soldiers. This group has been in existence playing regularly for about 10 years, but individually most of us have been involved in the hobby and known each other since the 1960’s.

The hobby of Miniature Wargaming has been around since before the 1900’s. The Prussian Army played a form of miniature wargame called “Kriegsspiel,” a military training game invented by Georg von Reisswitz, which used blocks of wood to represent troop formations and was played on a large scale map. Sir Winston Churchill played a form of wargames with his own large collection of toy soldiers when he was a young man. In 1913, the British author H.G. Wells published a book entitled “Little Wars,” for which this page is named. You can read this book free on line at the link below:

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3691

The game played in “Little Wars” used large lead or tin toy soldiers. The game rules allowed for movement of troops and combat. Cannons which actually fired small projectiles were used to “kill” opposing troops. Since “Little Wars” was published in 1913, the hobby has steadily grown and matured over the years, and is especially popular in England and Commonwealth countries, as well as the United States. The hobby really expanded in the 1960’s, early 1970’s. Authors/gamers who have been great influences in the hobby include Donald Featherstone, Brigadier Peter Young, Charles Grant, and Phil Barker from England, and Jack Scruby from the United States. The difference between the games played today and those of H. G. Wells are that the miniatures representing soldiers from nearly any period in history are available in many different scales from numerous manufacturers, and are qualitatively much better in appearance and detail. The rules that are used today are also advanced from the original “Little Wars” book. Much effort is used to make the terrain of the miniature battlefield have a more realistic appearance. 

This blog is also dedicated to our friend, the late Charles L. Prosek, USMC (retired), who was a voice of reason in our hobby that is sorely missed. Charlie was a veteran of the Korean War and the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir. Due to the traumatic nature of his military service, Charlie had difficulty listening to battle sound effects of modern war movies, having to turn off the volume. We used to regularly hang out at Charlie’s hobby shop in Winfield IL for many hours over many years, discussing the latest happenings in the hobby. 

Our gatherings for games are called "Al-Con," ("Con" or convention) for our friend Al, who usually hosts these events at his home. Here, we will periodically post articles about our latest battles, and may show some that we’ve had in the past. We play these games in all military periods and scales. Your comments and questions are welcome.