Khartoum characters

This was a final check playtest of a scenario we first played back in 2022: Khartoum. (Report here.) Time doesn't allow me to do a very long and detailed report this time, so I just offer 16 photos with some light remarks.

General Gordon is in Khartoum. He has refused to recognise how desperate his situation is. That's right - he is in de-Nile. (Save your groans, there's worse to come.)

Dave T and I commanded the mad Mahdists. I had the right wing, shown here. The orange counter notes a unit of captured Egyptians forced to fight for the Mahdists. Figures are Baccus 6mm from Mark's collection.

Mahdists attack left to right. Khartoum is protected by a line of earthworks, with a belt of obstacles in front of those (the dark felt): barbed wire, broken glass, artillery shells serving as mines. Brown felt at top is where the Nile has flooded, washed away the end of the earthworks, then receded leaving a marshy gap. White counters are objectives: the artillery bastions along the fortified line; various locations in the city (forts, the cathedral, the palace, etc).

Gordon and a big Krupp gun on the roof of the palace. The paddlesteamer gunboat wrought some havoc late in the game.

Mahdist camelry.

Egyptians wait behind their earthen ramparts.

Our cunning plan was for Dave T to surge through the marshy gap. However, see that little barge moored in mid-river to flank the line? The rifle fire from there was exceedingly irksome.

I shifted my weight left from here towards the marshy end so as to marry up with Dave's push on the left. Our rifle fire was effective in the first 3 turns, wiping out a couple of the tiny Egyptian units.

We chose to take a scenario option and launch a landing force across the Nile behind the Egyptian line. Unfortunately some of our troops were slow to embark and cross. That's right - they were not well-en-dhowed. As a result, half of them never got into the fight and were just mown down by the gunboat.

However, the other half of this outflanking contingent did better - it was the only Mahdist unit to get into Khartoum. Here we see it enter the outskirts of the city, having routed some enemy irregulars.

Situation late in the game. Apart from that sole incursion into the city, the rest of Dave's force is bogged down top of pic, while my repeated attempts to storm across the ramparts have all failed and every one of my units is stuck in the obstacle belt.

Gamely our lads go in again. All these charges will likewise bounce off except for my cavalry, upper right, who will push their foes back but then be gunned down as they mill about post-melee.

Similar story for Dave's repeated charges on our left.

Gordon can't afford to get cocky, though, as Dave's city raiders work their way closer to the palace. Next turn they will overrun the palace.

That's right - Gordon and his men will be an-Nile-ated.

With a couple of turns to go, some of mine get over the ramparts at last. This prompts most of the remaining Egyptian defenders to fall back to the city, having successfully bought time.

Game end. The three units in the foreground with green cubes are mine. The one in the palace at the top is Dave's. The other four, though, are Crispin's, still hanging on in objective locations despite being low on ammo (black cubes).

And the bigger picture shows most of Dave's force still trying to finish off one last 2-base Egyptian unit (in the foreground, with the yellow cube).

Skilful defence by Crispin denied us even a draw. We could point to some unkind dice at important times - when we launched so many charges, we could reasonably have expected more to succeed - but sometimes you just have to give credit to the opposition. Regardless, it was a good game that presented challenges and options to both sides. Different plans are possible so it has replay value.

This will be one of the battles in our planned Bloody Big Battles in Africa! scenario book that we hope to complete this year.

A beer and a fight on a Saturday night: Aspern/Essling

I asked Dave O if he wanted a beer and a fight last Saturday night, so that we could narrow the gap between games from decades down to less than a year. Our last encounter was Gettysburg last September. After ACW, his other great enthusiasm is Napoleonics, so we rolled out Aspern/Essling from the Napoleon's Bloody Big Battles! scenario book.

Ammoed up for Aspern/Essling

Dave's ACW armies are in 6mm but his Napoleonics are 2mm from Irregular Miniatures. These give a really good mass effect for a big battle like this:

Austrian reinforcements that will march on in Turn 2. Coloured base edges are red for Veteran, blue for Trained, green for Raw. Flags on the corners identify which army they're from. Coloured dice identify which corps is which. You could use the dice to track strength points but we didn't do that - too fiddly and too prone to get spilled. Instead, we used the number labels as unit ID to track strength on a roster.

Most of the French army is queuing up to cross the pontoon bridges over the Danube.

Discreet little mdf rectangles indicate a unit has the Skirmisher attribute. 

The large circular bases are the C-inCs. Here is Napoleon;

and Archduke Charles.

Irregular's 2mm terrain paints up nicely. Lovely job by Dave on this village.

I gave a synopsis of the historical battle last time I played it, back in 2020, so shan't repeat myself. Here is the battlefield:

Red stars are Objectives. Austrians need to take 3 to draw or 4+ to win. Essling is treated as a Fort (3 cover); Aspern as a Town (2 cover). The berm between them provides 1 cover. The French have only 3 divisions on the table initially. Each turn, they have 50% chance of getting another division across. It is a 9-turn game. After Turn 3 there is a Night Interval, in which they will get another 4-6 divisions across. All the Austrians are either on table initially or arrive on Turn 2. There's a lot of them! But they are almost all rated Passive, which means it may take a while to get them all into action and can be hard to coordinate assaults.

Austrian Passivity means Hiller on the extreme right makes virtually no move towards the Gemeinde Au. However, Charles manages to put four divisions into an assault on Aspern on Turn 2. The yellow Disruption puffs are because the preceding turn's firefight killed off both sides' Skirmishers - losses the numerous Austrians can absorb better than the French. 

Disaster for the French! Boxcars mean the Austrian offensive fire wipes out the defenders of Aspern. Bellegarde's corps will swarm through and hit the French reserves who have moved up behind the town.

Some revenge for Dave on the Austrian left, where Hohenlohe has recklessly advanced through Gross Entzersdorf in column (indicated by the blank square template behind the Austrian infantry unit) and gets charged by the French heavy cavalry division (rectangular template = In Depth).

Hohenlohe's infantry take casualties and are hurled back to seek refuge behind their cavalry (top left).

But it is the Austrian turn to attack again. Bellegarde debouches from Aspern for another go at the disrupted French. His cavalry charge over the berm, sacrificing themselves to distract the French artillery.

The Austrian cavalry has died but done its job. The infantry assault succeeds, driving back the French infantry and cavalry (top left), then rolling up and driving off the French gun line. 

Blessed relief for the desperate French as night falls. Both armies regroup. Napoleon crosses the Danube. He now has 8 divisions crammed into a pocket around his bridge, with a fresh gun line.

But his heavy cavalry, his only support for his division garrisoning Essling, is somewhat isolated next to Gross-Entzersdorf.

Archduke Charles waits for the French hammer to fall on Aspern. Hiller (right of pic) finally has a toe in the Gemeinde Au woods but there are French tirailleurs in there.

The hammer duly falls. It will take a couple of turns of hard pounding but the French will retake Aspern.

But the Austrians are preparing their own assault on Essling (top right). Apart from the Essling garrison, the artillery and the cavalry next to the Danube are the only French in the picture. They face eight Austrian divisions, including Lindenau's grenadiers (the two units with black dice and green puffs for Aggressive).

The Austrian assault on Essling (top of pic) is being prepared by this substantial gun line. Although it looks formidable, so are Essling's defences, so all it produced was clouds of dust.

Five Austrian divisions storm Essling. The supporting French cavalry and artillery are wiped out by other Austrian units.

Turn 6: Austrians hang on in Aspern; French hang on in the Gemeinde Au. In terms of victory conditions, the game is currently a draw.

The Austrians get their noses in front by taking Essling.

Austrians again repulsed from the Gemeinde Au on their right. Archduke Charles is displeased.

From displeased to dismayed: a 6:1 die roll means the French retake Aspern. The scores are level again!

Triumphant French now occupy Aspern. Blue puff shows their defeated opponents are Spent.

However, the French right is about to collapse. The Austrians pour onward from Essling in overwhelming force to rout the division they had expelled from there.

They then exploit the breach to overrun the French guns covering the Lobau bridgehead. Napoleon himself is next to the bridge and about to make expeditious use of it. There was a turn or two left, but Dave conceded at this point.

These five French divisions - including the Imperial Guard - never made it across the bridge. Never mind, they can provide the core of Napoleon's new army for his next campaign.

French casualties: three divisions and two artillery units wiped out.

(The Austrians lost one destroyed and one Spent.)

Reflections

Small figures, big battles. As a devotee of big battles, I am a fan of the small scales that make them feasible. My own collection is nearly all 6mm from various manufacturers (apart from a couple of 2mm armies); I also like the 10mm armies some of our group use. As this game shows, 2mm is also very good - perhaps the best of the three - for making battles look like battles rather than skirmishes.

Exponential effects of early luck. I was fortunate early on with a couple of lucky dice rolls that resulted in one precious French unit being destroyed and Aspern falling on Day 1. Although the luck evened out (eg Dave's 6:1 roll to retake Aspern), the French were always on the back foot after suffering that early blow, as its ramifications made themselves felt in terms of gaps in the line, etc. Napoleon said, "Give me generals who are lucky". We might amend that to "Give me generals who are lucky on Turn 1". 

Never surrender? When Dave conceded, it was still technically a draw: he held 3 Objectives (Aspern, the Gemeinde Au, and the bridge), so I needed to take one of those to get the 4 I needed for a win. True, I had several units close to the bridge, where Dave had nothing left. But if he had got one Imperial Guard division across next turn, they might well have held the earthworks against my disorganised troops. I might or might not have retaken Aspern and was making no progress in the Gemeinde Au. So although victory was undoubtedly beyond Napoleon's grasp, a draw was still very possible.

Still, Dave drubbed me at Gettysburg, so I'll take the win!

Doom and salvation at Nashville (ACW 1864)

We first fought the ACW battle of Nashville a decade ago. (Report here.) Now that my primary focus is to put together a complete collection of fully playtested ACW scenarios, it was time to revisit it. Of course, we now have the advantage of another ten years' experience of scenario design. I would also add the advantage of having walked the battlefield on my recent tour of ACW battlefields between Nashville and Atlanta, except that it is covered by the city and there's not much left to see.

Our game this week was an exciting and entertaining one, but it did confirm that the scenario needs some fine-tuning. 

This panorama of autumnal Tennessee pretty much sums up the game. The Confederates start in a very thin line, strung out in their fortifications along the heights above Nashville. The pic doesn't show, but there's another foot of manoeuvre space on each flank. Their left is anchored by the strong redoubts 1-5 (represented as two Forts) but their right is hanging in the air.

The white counters are Objectives: the two Forts; Shy's Hill and Overton's Hill (the Rebs' second line); and the two road exits that are their line of retreat. It's a two-day battle.

The US outnumbers the Rebs 3:2 and includes a cavalry corps with deadly repeating carbines. Exploiting their superior numbers, the Union forces will erupt from Nashville to execute a double envelopment, while pinning the Confederate centre. The redoubts hold them up on Day 1 but they wipe out the right-hand Confederate division. The Confederates are able to redeploy during the Night Interval, so fall back and dig in on their second line.

Dave W and I were playing the Confederates vs Mark and Crispin. Our right would surely have been overwhelmed on Day 2 if it had not been for what the pic doesn't show: the arrival of Forrest's cavalry behind the Union left. Historically, he was in range to do so, but did not appear. The scenario allows the possibility and we got lucky. His small but agile force was able to pin and distract enough US divisions to stop them reaching Franklin Pike or storming Overton's Hill. Meanwhile, although one of Dave's Forts fell, the other held out. However, we had lost half our army in the process.

All figures are Baccus 6mm from Crispin's collection. The custom-made terrain is his too.

Here are some pics of how it went in more detail, followed by a few Reflections.

Turn 1: US cavalry (top left) is racing around the Confederate left while US XVI Cps advances to pin the centre. No shots fired yet because of the morning fog.

I didn't take any more photos of Day 1 as I was too busy having my right wing crushed.

Day 2, looking at the Confederate left. The US cavalry was repulsed on Day 1 but is preparing to renew its assault on Redoubts 4 & 5 (left of pic). As the Confederate centre has fallen back to its second line positions, the US centre (XVI Cps, top right) shifts its attention to Redoubts 1, 2 & 3.

On our right, having overwhelmed Brown's division on Day 1, US IV and XXIII Cps will try to do the same to the rest of Cheatham's corps in its new second-line position. However, salvation is at hand, top right - Bedford Forrest and his merry men have arrived.

Forrest contemplates how his 4,000 men can best take on the 25,000 bluebellies in front of them.

The answer is to divide and harass. (Forrest's two units are right edge and top right.) This is enough to impede that US division lower right in its attempt to overrun the battery in the foreground defending our LOC. (Yellow counter = Disrupted.)

French's division held out valiantly for a long time against superior Union numbers and firepower. I think this Fort finally fell with just one turn to go.

On our right, the last of Cheatham's infantry divisions has disintegrated. Only the battery positions (presumably supported by a few surviving clusters of grim-faced riflemen) hold the line. Can they stand?

The Union charges in once more against the lefthand Fort, but two of Lee's divisions look solid and safe on two of the objectives in the second line (foreground). Time running out for the Union.

Confederate cavalry continue to cause enough minor havoc in the Union rear to detain and delay IV and XXIII Cps.

Redoubts 4 & 5 fall at last. Union cavalry exploit and get ready for a climactic assault on the other Fort in combination with XVI Cps.

The Union assault is repelled! The Fort stands! Victory is now beyond the Union grasp. Can they manage a draw?

Union hopes rest on one last desperate assault on Overton's Hill. Inspired by John Bell Hood's presence, Clayton's division sends the Yankees tumbling back. Victory to the Confederacy!

Reflections

Inevitable doom. That's how it felt for me on the Confederate right on Day 1. Just two units, with an open flank, facing 3:1 odds? My Entrenchments were never going to be enough. I did consider defusing the threat by falling back on Turn 3 as soon as the Union gun line was set up, but figured that would only bring them closer to our LOC that much sooner. I couldn't move, had more targets than I could possibly engage, all I could do was hope Mark rolled improbably low on his firing dice. It's not a pleasant feeling. But is probably uncomfortably historically accurate.

Salvation! Hence our whoops of palpable relief when Forrest showed up. That made it a much more interesting game for me and no doubt more of a challenge for Mark, who would otherwise have demolished me with his customary efficiency. That single die roll made such a huge difference, I've suggested to Crispin that if Forrest does appear, there should be a trade-off such as a reduction in the Union objective target for victory.

The other side of the hill. While Dave and I felt generally beleaguered and doomed, Mark was equally daunted by the successive fortifications he had to assault. When both the attackers and the defenders find a scenario to be a difficult tactical challenge, that's a good sign. Well done, Crispin!

The draft version of Crispin's Nashville scenario is in the BBB IO group files here. (You need to join the group to get access to the files.)