Sunday, April 5, 2015

Break Out!

Having decided that it was time for a larger game I turned to an old favourite that I have not played in several years: Bridgehead Breakout, Scenario 21 from CS Grant's Scenarios for Wargamers.


Rivers and roads have again been added by applying painter's masking tape  and then painting it with cheap craft paints. The hills are left over bits of pine shelving (my previous room had nearly 3 times the length of shelves, mostly full of 54mm soldiers). At this point I am 90% conviced that the 6" squares are the right choice so if the snow ever melts and I can get my workshop together I will be trimming the random bits to multiples of 6" with straight edges as much as possible to aid stacking and building complex hill shapes. The off cuts and odd bits will be used to make more inside corner bits to round out the shapes and rounded one piece top contours.  Been wanting to do this for a couple of years now but had to decide on the grid size first. Takes a while to be sure.

Red army (Faraway and Hougal Rebel Alliance) with a General, 3 subordinates, 2 artillery units, 3 cavalry units and 7 infantry units is tasking with eliminating the Blue bridgehead. Blue (Oberhilse) with a General, 3 subordinate commanders, 2 artillery, 3 cavalry and 8 infantry is tasked with breaking out of the bridgehead. One of the artillery units and an infantry unit have  been broken up trading a gatling and 2 crew for 2 infantry supports.

The previous artillery units with 1 gun and 4 crew looked rather lost on the 6" squares, something that would have been ok with 2 units per area but that caused so many rules complications that I decided it wasn't worth it. Doubling the scenario units was still an option but a little calculation showed that it would leave no room for maneuver. Finally it occurred to me that now that I have a source of affordable guns, I could just add 2 guns per battery as called for in the scenarios and allow them to be split when needed, a common practice in Colonial warfare anyway.

Two gunners per gun just didn't satisfy visually though which set me back for a bit since I had based my unit structure on Morschauser's 4 infantry or 2 cavalry or gunners per "company" (base). These were doubled now to 8 and 4 but the principle remained as it had since 2003 when I did the first draft of Morschauser Meets MacDuff (later Hearts of Tin). Doubling everything again was just too crowded for the infantry. A 1:5 modifier showed promise but the infantry were still a bit crowded. Eventually I remembered that at one point I had been experimenting with Battlecry and using 4 infantry and 3 cavalry or gunners to a unit. Doubling that fit the grid and looks ok so that's what  I'm trying here, 8 infantry, 6 cavalry, 2 field or 1 heavy gun with 6 crew. The 4 figure cavalry had been a bit weak anyway.

Not sure when I'll actually play the game, possible tomorrow although an assault on a fortified ridgeline would be more appropriate for an Easter Monday game (Vimy?) or more likely the day after to give me time to paint a few more figures and just look at the table. In any case I anticipate needing 2-3 hours to myself to play to a conclusion.

9 comments:

  1. A nervous face between the opposing sides while waiting for reinforcements is historically accurate and therefore permissible!

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  2. I like the idea of using the masking tape for roads and rivers-could work out doors too.
    I look forward to seeing the game played.
    Alan

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    1. Not sure it would work outside,if it can't stick to a dry surface it tends to ball up and stick to itself.

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  3. Looks like a big Battle Ross- the Red side looks to be heavy on the Artillery. Like the Set-up. KEV.

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    1. Its an illusion, both sides have the same number of guns but the blue ones sre smaller and harder to spot.

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    2. Ah- yes, I see what You mean - the big 4.7inch took all my attention...great modelling Ross!, KEV.

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  4. My first postings on my blog (back in December 2009) were of this scenario. The set up was Napoleonic.
    http://archdukepiccolo.blogspot.co.nz/search?updated-min=2009-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2010-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=4

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    1. Good start to your blog. I don't think I've ever played this and had a dud game.

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