"Your Majesty, the Oder belongs to the Russians!" Part 2

We finished the first session's play with the Prussians crossing their newly constructed pontoon bridge and pressing an attack to dislodge Russian troops occupying the hamlet between the two Prussian objectives (the northern and southern towns). 

At the start of the second gaming session I informed the players that night would fall at the end of the session and if neither side had achieved his objective the game would be drawn. Mostly because I needed to clear everything away to make table space to produce the next batch of river this weekend - twenty odd feet of medium span (four inches wide of water) river.

In the first turn the Prussians managed to get their troops across the river with some alacrity and, following a brief firefight, pushed the Russians into the hamlet.

The Prussians storm the position and finally secure their bridgehead in the centre of the battlefield. 

They must now decide which town to attack.

Sending a small force south to hold against a counter attack from that direction, the Prussians decide to attack the town (at the top of the photograph) to the north. 

At this point, Peter was trying to conceal his intentions from the Russians but, as the southern town was held in much more strength, the town to the north was always the obvious target. 

Graham looked doomed.

Now was the point that Graham decided that his only chance of victory was to try and take one of the Prussian hamlets on the Prussian baseline - if you remember, this would bring shame on the Prussian commander and end his career - with a daring blitzkrieg attack. 

The Prussians retained a strong previously uncommitted holding force across the river in the south so a Russian attack here was impracticable. 

Graham made the wager. He depleted his defending force at the northern town, with the Prussians massing in some considerable force just to the south, and attacked across the river!

A race now developed between the two sides. 

Shielding a strong force of infantry from possible interference from the south the Prussians marched towards the northern town as fast as they could go. 

However, the Russians were winning most of the initiative points and their daring northern attack was gathering momentum.

At first it looked like the Prussians were going to stop the attack in it's tracks. They won just enough of the initiative to march down into the valley and gave the Russian hussars considerable grief with several well directed volleys. 

Then the initiative swung again and, just as Russian infantry support  (in the shape of grenadiers) began crossing the bridge, a bunch of pesky Cossacks somehow (sequence cards falling in exactly the right order in close succession) got behind the Prussian infantry. First they discomforted the Prussians with some very lucky carbine fire, then charged them in the rear (under our rules it's difficult for Cossacks to charge anything so even getting to contact was a feat in itself). 

The Prussians were routed in short order and the gleeful Cossacks set off in pursuit.

This was a real turn up for the books and put the Prussian plan into chaos. 

On reaching the west bank of the Oder the bewildered Prussians tried to surrender. We had to look away at this point.

Because meanwhile, in the south, the Prussians began to advance towards the town there too. 

For the life of me I can't understand why Peter decided to spend his initiative points here, unless he was hedging his bets in case things didn't go well in the north. 

Or, perhaps it was the 'Cossack thing'.

I guess I'll never know....

Back in the north, the only remaining Prussian infantry unit west of the river now found itself isolated and pinned down by Russian hussars. They were thus unable to respond to the forced march of the Russian grenadiers to the Prussian hamlet, which they duly occupied. 

Just down the road, the Prussians had forced entry into the outskirts of the town and, following a brief exchange of fire, the last defending Russian infantry unit took to its heals. 

Shortly after this, the penultimate turn of the game (it was about 10.30 pm.) ended. 

If the Russian could hold their towns and the hamlet until the end of the next turn they could claim a major victory. If the Prussians could evict the last Russian unit (artillery) from the northern town (incidentally cutting off the Russians on the west side of the river) they would win.

Attention now switched entirely to the northern sector and the Russians immediately won a massive chunk of initiative and began cycling through their sequence deck - going for an early turn finish. One more run like that and..........

It was not to be. The Prussians won the next batches of initiative and their grenadiers moved through the town as fast as their little hairy legs would carry them and then they threw themselves at the artillery redoubt on the first melee resolution card that came up (they actually used a Heroic Moment card to initiate the melee). It was over in seconds. The Prussians had the town and were holding it in force. A Prussian victory for Peter.

Best game of the year for me (umpire) with a very exciting ending. 

Going with the flow: Making rivers fast and cheap(ish)

For several years now I've been muddling through with rivers that I've made over time, mainly using perspex, for wargaming tables that I no longer own. These older tables were all somewhat smaller than the one I have now and consequently I've never had quite enough river to do exactly what I've wanted to do, especially in wider span. In the back of my mind I've been laying plans to rectify this situation, and now I've finally started to put those plans into motion.

A picture showing some of my old river stock.

The first new river I've made is what I now term the 'wide' one. This is for representing the widest rivers; such as the Danube, Elbe, Po, etc. Being a firm believer in the right to compress terrain, the actual distance of the span of the river is relatively unimportant providing that the river looks wide enough to do more than get your little lead soldier's feet wet.  It is simple enough to say the river is too wide to shoot muskets across, add 12" to artillery ranges when firing across it, etc. A wargame's table is only so wide and the footprint of impassible terrain is an import consideration. I decided on a span of 180 mm of water with a 30 mm bank. Incidentally, there will be two other span widths of river (a 100 mm wide river and a 50 mm wide river, both with 30 mm wide banks) which I plan to make in exactly the same way so that I have a totally integrated system of waterways. I've also decided to make enough length of each river to cover all (at least most) eventualities.

The basic material for the river is 2 mm thick MDF which I bought in 4' x 3' sheets. This is pretty cheap stuff, from memory it was less than £3 a sheet. 

I undercoated what would be the reverse side with some household emulsion paint to seal it. I've been led to believe that MDF likes to soak up any moisture in the atmosphere which can lead to warping. I don't know if this is true but a little undercoat can't hurt.

Then, for the wide river, I drew out the sections with their bank lines. I drew out a little over 17 feet of straight sections - 12 x 12" long, 6 x 6" long, 3 x 4" long and 5 x 3" long, plus 4 x 6" long sections for three permanent bridges and a pontoon bridge. I also drew out 2 x 12" long sections with tributary points to connect 5 cm wide river sections and 450 degrees of river bends in 15 degree, 22.5 degree 30 degree and 45 degree angles. BTW, my table is 14' 8" long and 6' wide.

I cut the straight edges, where one river section butts up against another using a Stanley knife and a steel rule, then I cut the wavy edges of the outside banks with a coping saw. A little fine sand paper was used to remove any burrs.

Here is one of the tributary sections freshly cut from the sheet and marked out with its pencil lines for the banks. Note the wavy edge that cuts to and fro across the straight pencil line - somewhere another river edge mirrors this edge -  so one saw cut can produce two edges; this saves MDF, time and elbow grease.

Next I added the banks using lengths of foam board (5mm thick) which were cut slightly deeper than the bank depth would be. Note that I cut the internal sides of the bank with a wavy edge before fixing into place with PVA glue. I used a scalpel with a 10A blade to make the cut.

Note that the internal wavy edge was cut using one cut to produce two mirroring edges. Note that the internal banks line up with the internal bank pencil line at the section ends: So the river sections join up correctly. Also note the straight outside edges that overhang a wavy edge beneath, and the slight overhang at the straight section ends. These overhangs will be cut off later.

Once the foam board was stuck to the MDF, the overhangs could be cutaway using a sharp 10A scalpel blade. It's best not to skimp on blades for this. I used three, in all, for doing this. I kept the slightly blunted blades for less precise work at some point in the future.

The banks are almost finished. They just need to be chamfered to produce nicer slopes. The outside chamfer of the bank was the tricky cut as I don't have a knife with a long enough blade to produce it. I had to use a handle-less Stanley blade to produce the cut - and a very sharp blade is essential here.

The Stanley blade being used to chamfer the outside edge using the MDF base as a cutting guide. Not an ideal way to make this cut but, effective nonetheless.

The inside edge is cut at a much steeper angle so a scalpel can be used.

Using the base line of the edge as a guide is the best way to make this cut. It is an easy job to do so you can take your time. The outside chamfer can be clearly seen in this shot. It is much shallower than the internal edge of the bank.

That is pretty much it. Essentially the rivers are made and only need finishing with paint and flock. I used household emulsion paint for mine. I used a mixture of black, blue and green to get a dark colour as the base for the river and then I dry brushed it with a turquoise blue. The water was finished with a couple of coats of clear varnish (more anon). I did the banks in dark brown dry brushed with light brown, and the banks in dark green then flocked. The drying results are pictured below.

Drying the flock. Note the paint tins being used as weights: This was the paint I used: 250 ml Dulux sample pots mixed to required shade in the shop; I got these for £3 a tin and they are all still over half full. Lastly, note the sheets of uncut MDF protecting my wargame table beneath - it's as cheap as chips.

As for the painting of the water, well, it didn't turn out quite as I'd hoped. The colour looked O.K. until the varnish went on. Then, low and behold, the dry brushed blue suddenly went very bright and at least a full shade lighter. With the varnish on I thought that was it. Then, yesterday, I was finishing the painting of the third permanent bridge. I'd run out of my very clear varnish and so I had to use some old yacht varnish I've had kicking around for years, and because it's brownish in colour it gave a completely different finish to the water, especially after three coats. And I liked it more than the other colour.

My new three arch bridge - it's made with foam board sides, artistist mounting card roadway and thin card for the interior of the arches. The brickwork is balsa wood. Note the much darker river!

I had an idea. Always a scary moment, so I sat back and thought some more. I didn't want to spend hours putting three more layers of varnish on my rivers, so what if I added a couple of thimbles full of wood stain to the yacht varnish? I slept on it, I woke up; I went for it.

Wood dye, yacht varnish, a tub of the coffee coloured mix, and a river section half done. This doesn't really show the colour difference....but the next picture does.

This is much better and more what I was originally looking for. It's funny how things happen, sometimes.

Way too blue, now much better.

So there you have it. Lots of river sections done quickly and relatively cheaply. The MDF used cost around £5; the foam board cost £3: the paint used cost £7.50 (£15 outlay but there is lots left to finish the other planned river section projects), the flock used cost £1.50; the varnish cost £7. Other bits and pieces I had hanging around anyway, such as blades and PVA glue, and various DIY surplus / leftovers. It took a whole long day to make and paint the river sections, start to finish, plus an hour to put on that last coat of mucky coloured varnish - which I hope dries by tonight because we're playing with it.

Some of the river sections (about 15') in use in tonight's (continuing) game which I'll report the conclusion of.

So simple anyone can do it. It's not the best river I've seen, by a long shot, but, for time, effort and money spent doing it, I think it's pretty neat.

"Your Majesty, the Oder belongs to the Russians!"

This scenario is a river assault game set in the Seven Years War. The year is 1758. 

The game gives me the chance to use my new 'wide' river sections, pontoon train and pontoon bridge sections. I have to say, games involving engineering tasks are usually a lot of fun. The pontoon train and bridge cost less to buy than a unit of troops and probably took about the same amount of time to put together for the table; as a cost to fun ratio it definitely works for me.

We will use our amended version of Piquet to play the game. Piquet's unique turn sequence and unbalanced initiative system works well for this kind of scenario - it also has inbuilt rules for engineering ('Sapper') tasks.

General scenario outline:

The Russians have once again invaded Prussian territory whilst the bulk of the Prussian army is away in the south facing the Austrians. They have taken up positions on the east bank of a big meander in the Oder river, guarding the bridges, in order to defend their territorial gains until further instructions arrive from the Empress. 

The Russian game objective is to hold the two towns and their bridges. They might also wish to consider disgracing the Prussians by taking either of the small hamlets (on the Prussian baseline) and holding them for a complete turn in the presence of the Prussian army. Although the Russians will suffer a defeat if they lose either town, they can automatically claim a scenario victory for taking and holding a Prussian hamlet because of the political and morale damage this will have done to Prussian prestige (not to mention the local Prussian commander's career prospects).

Note: Offering the Russians the chance of victory by attacking (the hamlets) was done for two reasons: It gives the Russians more options than to simply hunker down and, more importantly, it should prevent the Prussians simply massing in one place to bring overwhelming force to bear at a single point.

On hearing the news that 'the Oder belongs to the Russians!' King Frederick has sent peremptory orders to counter-attack with the forces immediately available and force the Russians back on their bases in Poland. The local Prussian commander is under no illusions: The Russian advance is an affront to Prussian prestige and further Russian incursions will not be tolerated.

The Prussian objective is to take one of the towns. This will dislodge the Russians and force them back into Poland. Attempts must be made to prevent any further incursion into Prussian territory (the hamlets on your baseline are Russian objectives and should be be defended - see Russian objectives) as any such incursion will incur the wrath of the King and your personal disgrace.

Note: I added two Sapper Task cards to the Prussian sequence deck for activating checks on our version of the Sapper Task table, which I have posted below. 

SAPPER TASK TABLE: adjusted sapper die Vs D8

Factor	Down 2	Down 1	No Change	Up 1	Up 2
Task	Build	Repair / Prepare charge	Destroy	Clear / Improve	Maintain / Detonate charge
Object of activity	Fortification	Stone structure	Wood or earth structure	Trees / Door / Prefab’	Ditch or trench
Task size		Large / Strong / Deep	Average	Small / Weak / Shallow
Acquire Materials	Difficult to obtain locally		Easy to obtain locally or from baggage train	Materials already acquired and on site
UI and time committed	Not sappers	1	2	3 / Each task check	4
Unit quality by morale	D4	D6	D8	D10+
Enemy	In contact	Under effective fire		Over 36”

I counted the abutments at each end of the bridge as constructed before dawn. The bridge takes a minimum of four tests to complete: first, two pontoons are placed, then they are decked, then two more pontoons are placed, then they are decked and the bridge is completed. On each card the sappers roll for a task completion. Failure indicates the task is not completed but they will get the 'Each task check' modifier on the next card. The base die for Prussian sapper task tests is a D8.

(Note: For those that don't know how the Piquet dicing system works, dice get one bigger for each 'Up' and one smaller for each 'Down'. So in this case, for a basic test, the Prussians will be D8 adjusted Dn2, Up1, NC, Up1, Up2, Dn1 (net Up1) giving a D10 Vs D8 test. If the D10 is higher the sappers succeed).

Because bridging requires tests, neither player can be quite sure how quickly the bridge will be built, which adds quite a bit of tension to the game. The construction site can also be fired at which might cause damage to the structure delaying the work further, though I will not bog you down with that; but, needless to say, sappers repairing such damage can't be used to build at the same time and are penalised because they are under fire (on the next card).

Russian OOB and initial deployment:

The Russians are situated, in the main, at three points. They hold the two towns where significant bridges are located and a small, linking hamlet between them. Patrolling is being carried out by bands of roving Cossacks whilst the line troops are content in the comfortable billets being unhappily provided gratis by the local inhabitants.

In the northern town the Russians have two commands. 

1. A unit of grenadiers, two units of line infantry and a battery of field guns. The guns have been sighted in a redoubt with superior fields of fire to cover the bridge. The town section nearest the bridge has been prepared for defence. 

2. Two units of hussars and two units of Cossacks, the latter patrolling west of the river. 

In the southern town the Russians have two commands.

1. Two units of grenadiers, three units of line infantry and a battery of field guns. The guns have been sighted in a redoubt with superior fields of fire to cover the bridge. The town section nearest the bridge has been prepared for defence. 

2. A unit of cuirassier, a unit of horse grenadiers and two units of Cossacks. One unit of Cossacks is patrolling west of the Oder, the other is patrolling just north of the town.

Note: That's a new church with a slightly 'Bohemian' look to it. It's been hanging around the place waiting to be painted for quite some time. I think the green copper roof, though a little ostentatious for a small town / village church, adds something to it. Mostly MDF and balsa wood with War Bases doors and windows).

Between the two towns a small hamlet is being used to billet a small command of two unis of line infantry stationed to support a battery of howitzers sighted to cover the river from commanding high ground.

Prussian OOB and initial deployment:

During the night, and without opposition, the Prussians have advanced to the west bank of the Oder.  Here they taken up positions facing the Russians. 

The night has not been wasted. Using pontoons the Prussians have managed to ferry a unit of grenadiers and a unit of line infantry to the far bank to protect a bridgehead for a pontoon bridge which is now under construction by a unit of pioneers. These form the 'bridgehead' command. 

(Note: The fusiliers I used to represent the sappers is IR 49 which Frederick converted from the 'Pioneer Regiment' into fusiliers at the end of 1758. They are a very pretty regiment, in their bright orange waistcoats and breaches, and provide a good 'double use' unit for this kind of thing).

Stationed to face the northern town the Prussians have deployed two commands. 

1. A unit of cuirassier, a unit of dragoons and a unit of hussars.

2. Two units of line infantry.

Stationed to face the southern town and behind the proposed pontoon bridge the Prussians have placed three commands (not including the 'bridgehead' command).

1. Two units of line infantry, one battery of field guns (directly opposite the town).

2.  A unit of cuirassier, a unit of dragoons and a unit of hussars.

3. Two units of grenadiers, a unit of line infantry, a unit of fusiliers and a battery of heavy guns (stretching behind the wood and behind the pontoon bridge).

The Battle on the Oder

Dawn has broken and the Russians quickly become aware of the work being carried out in the great meander of the river. Rushing troops from north and south to reinforce the command at the hamlet, they concentrate to oppose it.

The Prussians make slow progress building their bridge. Work at the construction site is hampered by constant fire from the Russian howitzer battery.

Russian howitzers lob shells at the pontoon bridge at every opportunity (especially when they have the chance to fire on 'Heroic Moment' cards). This handicaps the Prussian bridge building and buys time to collect together a force that might be strong enough to break into the Prussian bridgehead.

The battle at the bridgehead erupts into full fury. Outnumbered two to one the Prussian position looks precarious but, quality tells. As the bridge nears completion the Russian attack begins to disintegrate.

Note: Pontoons and bridge are scratch made from balsa wood. The wagons are all MDF by War Bases, though the pontoon wagons are simple farm cart conversions.

Towards the end of turn four the bridge is complete and the Russians are falling back towards the hamlet under pressure from the 'bridgehead' command.

At the end of the first game session, the Prussians have begun to cross their newly constructed pontoon bridge. [First shot is of the Prussians crossing on the night, the second is one I staged this morning].

A Very British Civil War - LOGW weekend

Belgians, Morris Dancers and the Grenadier Guards rush past Hemingway to face another crisis in Newcastle - you can tell it was cold - they are all wearing coats.

I've returned from yet another thoroughly entertaining game with The League of Gentlemen Wargamers up in the colder reaches of the U.K. The game was a multi-table 'campaign game', the whole representing the north of England up to Berwick and various players were either Scots, Anglican League, Communists, Albertines or British Union of Fascists - I was one of the four players playing the latter and never a game was so well lost! In fact, the BUF were the target of everyone, and who can blame them for that.

Evening all! Communist cavalry, about to get  stuffed by the constabulary. Very pretty unit that, Chris. 

Virtuallyly non of the photos I took came out, so here is a link to Tim's blog, or Bills blog, where they did. 

Tim's blog

Bill's blog

I had a great deal of fun in this game. Except for a brief foray to the east to fight some Albertines (Bill G.) at the start of the two day game, I spent much of my time defending the city of Newcastle. Single-handedly I fought off an Anglican League faction (Angus K.) and Hartlepool Communists (Chris H.) for the rest of the game until Newcastle fell to the Bishop of Durham in the very final turn of the weekend. 

That church in the background is the base of my two faced, conniving, untrustworthy, backstabbing enemy the Bishop of Durham (Angus K.). That jumper belongs to my two faced, conniving, untrustworthy, backstabbing enemy the Hartlepool Communists (Chris H.). That plane is mine and it's about to 'hang another monkey'.

My Grenadier Guards, with support from the constabulary, Morris dancers and Belgians (amongst others) fought to the last man, last bullet, last throw of the dice. I took down the enemy in their droves; at the last count, including the Albertines on day one, I killed 16 units for the loss of only 7. This was largely due to the sterling work done by the Royal Victoria Infirmary which kept depleted units up to strength with troops returning from their sick beds - this was especially true of the Guards who, to a man, must have each been wounded at least three times during the campaign - Angus was definitely hunting bear(skins). 

BUF volunteers, brave but stupid, await the call from Edward VIII. He was unable to make the call because his trip to Balmoral was rudely interrupted by a band of Celtic supporters (Dale S.). 

Mrs. Simpson didn't seem too bothered, she was busy 'doing things' to the Bishop of York (Kieron P.), the eventual winner who, with all the Royals having been killed, and with the death of the Archbishop of Canterbury (machine gunned from the air), would soon find himself crowned King.

Thanks to Colin J. for organising the game, Bill G. for his knowledge of the rules and answering constant questions with such good grace, and Steve R. (of course) for kindly putting me up for the weekend.

Next up, for the LOGW, it will be an old school SYW game organised by Charles G. using rules from The War Game. I think it's planned to be a pan European, multi-table, campaign affair. Should be good......

The river making has begun - And a new bridge

Some time ago I finished building a pontoon train and a river piece with pontoon ramps and bridge sections, the latter were left unfinished because I planned to make a wide river into which the piece would fit. 

At the time I rather inferred that this would be done soon. Hmmm....

Last week, Tim T. kindly delivered an order of  2mm thick MDF sheets (nine 3' x 4' boards) which had been hanging around in his shop for several weeks. This was the spur for some frantic drawing out of around 7 m of 'wide' river, including turns and tributary entry points. The river will be in sections of between 75 mm and 300 mm long and 240mm wide (the width of water is 180mm with a 30mm bank to either side). At that point work abruptly ceased because I don't have the paint to hand and my hobby budget has been spent for this quarter. 

Needing hobby cash NOW, I've put a few things up for auction on ebay (a couple of unwanted board games and some unpainted odds and sods) with a view to filling the hobby coffers to complete the terrain project within budget - and things are looking good.

To keep up my enthusiasm until the money and paint flows in I decided to build a new bridge.
(I figure that I'll need three and I only have one, excluding the pontoon bridge).

I thought that a covered bridge would be interesting, both to build and as a terrain item, and I decided to build one based on this photo of a German one I downloaded from a wargame blog (sorry, I can't remember who's) not so long ago.

As soon as construction got underway, the plan changed. What I came up with, except for having stone abutments [bridge ends], two sets of 'A' frame timber piers (span supports), and a roof, is completely different from thae bridge pictured above. However, I'm indebted to the blogger for the original inspiration.

Here is the finished construction after the bulk has been undercoated brown. The abutments will be grey stone when it is painted, the span will be natural wood. The roof will be grey 'slate' tiles.

Even though, like most of my buildings, the new bridge is under scale it is still quite a big thing. It measures 360 mm long and is 110 mm high. The model is a little over 70 mm wide; the roadway is 50 mm wide.

It is constructed out of several materials including MDF, which provides the bulk of the main build, balsa wood, card, and plastic. 

One thing about under scale model bridges that is difficult to get around is the length and gradient of the ramps. To keep the length of the bridge manageable the bridge must be lower than it should be. In this case just 17 mm above the 'river'.

The biggest change to the original design was made so that you can actually see the troops as they cross. 

The flag is too tall to go under the roof but it is high enough allow the passage of cavalry figures.

The roof is removable to allow access to the bridge itself. 

I'll spray undercoat the roof black before painting. 

The whole upper side panel construction is plastic welded together with polystyrene cement for strength*. 

The 'X' trellising is from an Airfix pontoon bridge set (I had previously used the pontoons for something else). I was out of plastic rod so I had to improvise the rest of the panels: the long struts across the the top of the trellising are actually made from the sprues of model kits with all of the nobbles cut off, and the vertical railings are off cuts from the Pontoon Bridge set. 

* I find building things out of several materials is always tricky, especially when it comes to securely gluing them together, and gluing wood to plastic, where the glue points are small, can be very problematic.

The roof is very light, too light in my opinion. So I've glued some coins to the underside to weight it down and give it some heft. The lip around the bottom edge keeps it in the correct alignment.


So there we are, a Bridge Over Troubled Water. That will go nicely with the tickets I have to see Paul Simon in July. It might even be finished by then!



EDIT: 
The Bridge has been finished. Here's a pic.