Bash Day goes West! BBB Bash Day VI

The Bloody Big BATTLES! convoy rumbles on. For the sixth incarnation of our annual BBB mini-convention, "Bash Day", we parked our wagons and la(a)gered up at a charming pub in the West Country, the Tudor Arms at Slimbridge.

Photo taken from the pub website

We chose this location because it is Alan Millicheap's home turf. Alan has been a staunch friend of BBB since its early days. As well as creating scenarios and posting nice game reports on his Two Marshals blog, he has done our community great service by establishing the BBB Facebook page, which now has 1,200 members. It was therefore really nice to recognise his contribution by having him host BBB Bash Day VI, ably assisted by Bruce who handled all the logistics of arranging games and booking in players, etc.

This was a little more out of the way than previous Bash Days. Nonetheless, 15 or so of us convened for a day's gaming. Nobody crossed the Atlantic for it this time, but some of our intrepid gamers did undertake a six-hour round trip to join us. This, plus the fact that they and most of the rest were repeat attendees, is already a tribute to Bash Day's status as a High Quality Gaming Experience.

The high quality started with the venue. We had the use of the pub's skittle alley, a spacious function room that had no trouble accommodating us around four game tables. As well as the obvious advantage of access to beverages all day, it served very decent victuals for lunch, and even provided lodging for some of our party who made a weekend of it.

The high quality continued with the four games. These provided a mix of the classic and the obscure; the massive battle and the small skirmish; the intense clash and the multi-day operation; gorgeous 28mm and mass-effect 10mm and 6mm. Specifically:

- Magenta (1859): French vs Austrians in the 2nd Italian War of Independence;

- Chattanooga (1863): the besieged Union army breaks out to storm Confederate siege lines on Lookout Mountain and then Missionary Ridge;

- Spicheren (1870): one of the opening engagements of the Franco-Prussian War;

- 'Ndondakusuka (1856): 2nd Zulu Civil War. (No, I hadn't heard of it either.) Zulus vs Zulus in a battle where the real winners were the crocodiles.

To give readers a break from my non-descript Midlands accent, I invited our gamemasters to provide the following brief reports.

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Magenta (1859) - report by Rodge

On Al Millicheap’s beautiful purpose-made terrain we played Chris’s Magenta scenario.

It’s a very good scenario and to stand a fighting chance the Austrian passive, fragile, trained and raw troops need the mainly veteran, aggressive French to throw iffy dice; they didn’t.

The Austrians conceded turn 8 (of 9) with 2 of the 3 objectives taken and Magenta about to fall.

Alan's lovely Pendraken 10mm armies.

Not sure how wise it is to keep the French and the Austrians in the same box ...

The French in the foreground are trying to force their way across the Austrian-held canal. To make things easier, half the French force has outflanked the Austrian line and is pouring down from the left. Can they take the two main bridges and the town of Magenta (top centre)?

Austrian columns wind ponderously across the Italian plain.

Will they stiffen the line enough and in time to repel the French onslaught?

So good to see Alan's custom terrain for this battle in action again.

Elite French troops converge on the Austrians defending the vital bridges at Pontenuovo.

View from the Austrian side as the French assault goes in.

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Chattanooga (1863) - report by GM Crispin

This was the third outing of this scenario. A large Union army has 2 days (9 turns and a night interval) to clear the heights surrounding Chattanooga of the smaller dug-in Confederate forces. On the previous two games (one a draw, one Rebel win) the Union army had managed to clear Lookout Mountain but struggled to make much impact on the long Missionary Ridge.

This time, the Union army (Chris and Anton) got off to a good start. Grant (Anton) stormed Lookout Mountain with 3 divisions and destroyed the defending Rebel unit by turn 5. On the other side of the battlefield Sherman(Chris)  led a 5 division attack on Tunnel Hill which by Turn 6 had effectively shot away Cleburn’s veteran divisions defending it. By Turn 6, when the 4 remaining Union divisions were released for their final assault, things were looking good for the Union with 5 objectives  - (enough for a draw) in the bag – they just needed to take 2 more VPs for a win……..The Confederates were, however, not so easily cowed. They continued to fight on tenaciously: Bragg (Bruce) rushed reinforcements to the North and East of Missionary Ridge to stubbornly repulse the advancing Union army in its track. Similarly in the centre of the battlefield, to the south of Chattanooga, David ably defended the Rossville Gap road exit, denying it to the Union army. So, by the game end on turn 9, with no more VP gained by the Union, a hard-fought draw was agreed!

Initial dispositions. Lookout Mountain is bottom left (Union assault force just out of shot to the left of it). Union main body holds Chattanooga in the centre, mostly not released until mid-battle. Sherman's force in the woods upper right is about to advance against the top end of Missionary Ridge. The coffee is an Americano, obviously. 

No blow-by-blow photo report this time. Let's take you almost to the end. Left of pic: Sherman has taken Billy Goat Hill at the extreme end of Missionary Ridge but been unable to advance any further. The Confederate division in the woods upper right will be driven back Spent, but the Union will run out of time to take the road junction objective (white counter by table edge upper right) or exploit onto Missionary Ridge.

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Spicheren (1870) - report by GM Dave W

Our BBB big bash days are becoming a popular semi-regular event. Our latest adventure down to Sunny Gloucestershire proved no exception.

Choice of game for me was an early Franco-Prussian War sensation, Spicheren. Three players had chosen to participate in my game: Shaun, and husband and wife team, Bob and Sarah.

I arrived in plenty of time and got the game set up. Lesson no. 1: don’t choose a complicated terrain-heavy game in future!!

Initial set-up. The first Prussians have appeared bottom left of pic, ready to advance and seize as many white objective counters as they can.

The original idea was that Shaun would play the French while Bob and Sarah could scheme between them to pull off a Prussian victory. Shaun arrived 1st and as we were setting up chatting, I gave him a Prussian command and decided to split the happy couple up.

Bob was now the French commander, Frossard, and deployed his command accordingly. Shaun took the initial Prussian forces and the game commenced with some heavy aggressive Prussian attacks towards the two objectives in the Pfaffen woods and on the Rotherberg. These were manfully defended by the French, who were able to push the assaults back several times during Turns 1-3.

While this was happening, Sarah brought on the Turn 2 Prussians and started a steady methodical advance down the road towards Forbach. Shaun finally took his first two objectives by Turn 4 and had also manoeuvred his two-stand cavalry unit behind the French troops who were conducting a fighting withdrawal towards Spicheren itself.

By the end of Turn 4 the Prussian pressure was mounting, driving the French front line back out of Spicheren and causing Bob some concerns as more of his units became Spent. Sarah continued her drive down the road and had made the decision to bring on the Prussian 26th Bde on Turn 6, effectively in the rear of the French holding Forbach. At the midway point in the game it looked like the Prussians had it in the bag.

However, Bob retook and then lost Spicheren on Turns 5 and 6. Both sides' cavalry forces fought a series of assaults that resulted in both sides losing one base and fighting again - wipeout!!

On Turn 7, everything was ready for the stage-managed Prussian assaults on Forbach and Wendel, game over. However, the dice gods decided otherwise. The attack on Forbach rolled low on the manoeuvre roll and failed to close and the assault on Wendel was repulsed.

On Turn 8, the Prussians put everything against Wendel and finally got in. Prussian victory! - or was it? French phase, Turn 8: Bob stepped up to the challenge and his remaining 2-stand, Spent French infantry unit, within range of Spicheren, got back into it and withstood the Prussian defensive fire.  Outstanding. In true BBB fashion, a well deserved draw.

Such fun. Running games can be just as enjoyable as taking part, watching the game unfold and how the players interact. Looking forward to the next one.

The French confront the apparently inexorable Prussian advance on Stiring Wendel.

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'Ndondakusuka (1856) - report by GM Bruce

Our fourth game was 'Ndondakusuka 1856, the bloodiest battle in Zulu history and the culmination of the Second Zulu Civil War. Prince Ceteswayo and his uSuthu faction fight to the death against Prince Mbuyazi and his iziGqoza for the right to be recognised as heir to King Mpande. This was an unusual BBB battle, as there was only one unit with firepower on the table, the adventurer John Dunn and his 200 rifle-armed African mercenaries. This meant an awful lot of Assaults, as Zulus went assegai to assegai in brutal combat, with casualties to match. Our uSuthu, Bob, Sarah & Anton launched their attack up the steep ridge in the middle in the pictures against the thin line of Crispin & Dave's iziGqoza, in an attempt to reach the civilians and cattle behind before they fled. Note the crocodile patrolling the far River Thukela in search of victims...

Initial set-up, viewed from behind the uSuthu start line. iziGqoza hold the opposite ridge line, cattle and civilians behind their right horn, John Dunn and his men anchoring their left. Note the salubrious surroundings of the Tudor Arms venue: pot plants, leather chairs and funky radiators.

Close-up of the cattle and civilians behind the iziGqoza line. 

The uSuthu attack sets off.

uSuthu breakthrough on the right pushes back Dunn's marksmen but is at the wrong end of the line to worry the civilians and cattle in the distance. All 28mm figures and terrain from Bruce's collection.

Mostly from Warlord; personalities from Empress; African rifles from North Star.

As the original players could not make it on the day, we played 'Ndondakusuka as a bonus in the afternoon, after the other games were finished. We got to Turn 8 out of 9, in an hour or so of manic combat, with the uSuthu having managed not quite enough slaughtering to win, so we called it a draw.

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These were certainly impressive games. Most of all, though, I continue to be impressed by the good people who come to Bash Day. One participant said to me that this is a function of the nature of the rules and of the historical scenarios: Bash Day attracts smart and knowledgeable players who are interested in history and in exploring historical battles together, in a spirit of collaboration and shared enjoyment. Certainly that was the case (again) at Bash Day VI. My thanks and congratulations to Alan, Bruce, and all our GMs and players for their good company and an all-round excellent day.

Next Bash Day (for there surely will be another) is under discussion and we have some possible venues in mind already. However, if any of you out there would like to host one yourselves, please do get in touch.