A double dose of Dorking

What a magnificent and memorable occasion! I am recently returned from a four-day wargaming extravaganza at our friend Phil's large and lovely holiday home in France. Eight of us convened there on Thursday evening and had fun fighting and feasting until our Tuesday morning departure.

The hardcore wargaming was leavened by non-military-related card and board games. The full list of games played was this, I think:

Gettysburg (BBB) - the iconic American Civil War battle, with custom terrain

Gravelotte (BBB) - the epic Franco-Prussian War battle, with custom terrain

France 1940 (O Group)

WWII naval Pacific (Nimitz)

WWII naval North Atlantic (Nimitz)

Startups (card game)

High Society (card game)

Junta (board game) - the classic game designed by Vincent Tsao, friend of BBB and quartermaster of the Corlears Hook Fencibles

Decrypto (party game)

Dorking 1875 (BBB)

Dorking 1940 (O Group)

I will focus on these last two because it was such a delightful conceit on Phil's part to run them both. Many wargamers will know of the book by George Tomkyns Chesney, The Battle of Dorking: Reminiscences of a Volunteer, published in 1871, about a fictional future German invasion of England in 1875. Some readers may even have wargamed the Battle of Dorking, as I am sure I have seen it done as a convention game a couple of times. Anyway, this time it was our turn, as Phil had decided he wanted to do it. In fact, he was so keen that he cut out custom hills for the terrain and was still frantically painting the last guardsmen when we arrived. We duly fought the 1875 battle and enjoyed it so much that it seemed a good idea to fight a 1940 version as well.

Some 17 annotated photos tell you how our two games went. A few reflections follow.

The Dorking gap, looking south. Germans will arrive from the south edge (top of pic). The large building on a square is the town of Dorking. Roads and rail lines run N-S and E-W. The River Mole runs through the gap. The major ridge on the left is Box Hill. The nearer building in the centre is Westhumble Station; the one lower right is Polesden Lacey; lower left, I think the King William IV inn. On the small ridge top left is where Graham used to live, above the railway tunnel. All of these were objectives, as was the major ridge on the right as well.

In addition, this party of Royal Engineers was a timed objective. The Germans had to overrun them by Turn 2, otherwise they would demolish a strategic section of railway line. Surprisingly, the German players didn't even try - too intent on their right-hook plan (and too wary of British covering fire).

I commanded the British right, a brigade of one regular battalion (one seen here) and three of rifle volunteers. My mission was to hold the righthand ridge. This is Turn 1: the Hun has occupied Dorking and is sweeping towards Box Hill, ignoring me initially and letting the RE do their vital work. White counters mark objectives. (Figures are Pendraken 10mm from Phil's collection. Forgive his unflocked bases - he was painting them right to the last minute. I think the guards deployed while they were still wet!)

Front view of my position, showing some RVs in the line. A second RV bn is left of pic. The union jack marker is my third RV bn in reserve. (We also had a couple of dummy unit markers.) The Polesden Lacey manor house is just visible top of pic, subsequent home of the famed beauty, Lady Greville.

The German right, commanded by Crispin, collides with our left, commanded by Phil, on Box Hill.

A Phil's-eye view of the repeated assaults on Box Hill. The Germans soon set up a Grossbatterie (out of shot top of pic) that did great execution. The blue counter shows the British regulars are now Spent.

A couple of turns later, another corps arrived on the German left, commanded by Dave. My thin line of Rifle Volunteers in the foreground did not keep Dave's Germans off the high ground for long.

My first RV bn having been swiftly routed, I was obliged to wheel my remaining three bns to the right to face Dave's onslaught. A brigade of Germans promptly sortied from Dorking to scale the heights and mow down my regulars from behind. Blue and yellow counters show the effects of the German fire. Fortunately, a battalion of guards had de-trained at Westhumble. Phil sent these up the hill (lower left) to take the Germans in flank and contest control of the ridge.

Box Hill has fallen to the Germans, who swarm across it towards the inn (left foreground), held only by a few Yeomanry cavalry, and Westhumble Station, which is more stoutly garrisoned.

Nevertheless, at game end, both these objectives fall to the Hun. However, a couple of rolls on the random events table have helped us. Top of pic, outraged citizens have armed themselves and, with their rallying cry of "Take Back Control", seized Dorking. Out of pic to the right, the East Surrey Hunt has mustered to protect Lady Greville's honour and distracted a German brigade or two enough to preserve Polesden Lacey and retain the western ridge. The victory conditions were somewhat provisional (Mark and Phil only finalised the scenario at 2am the night before) but I believe it ended in an honourable draw.

For our O Group battle of Dorking set 65 years later, we had to zoom in somewhat. Essentially we were fighting over one shoulder of the gap. This is the battlefield seen from the south, the edge where the Germans arrive. The righthand half of the table is the end of Box Hill, with a substantial concrete bunker and some trenches. The River Mole divides it from the road and rail routes through the gap and Westhumble station (upper left, next to the railway, obviously).

I commanded the British left. Our mortar FOO had a splendid view from Box Hill.

Whereas the 1875 game was a properly designed scenario, the 1940 one was a much more ad hoc exercise in getting the toys on the table, as Phil doesn't often get a chance to use his 1940 collection. We British defenders therefore had nearly as many troops as the Germans and both sides kept bringing on more, which made it hard for the attackers to break through. Here we see Crispin's Pz Is and Kradschützen advancing past a couple of burning Pz IIs.

Of course, one way to help an attacker to break through is to have Stukas smash holes in the defence. This German airstrike destroyed both our A9s and seriously discouraged a Mk VI troop. (Though Mark, the other German commander, did later reflect that he'd have done better to pummel the infantry defending the station.)

The Stuka also destroyed our 25-pdr. Our infantry and their Boyes AT rifle hunker down to defend the vital bridge.

Climax of the game was a double assault on the station, first by a motorcycle platoon, then by a Panzergrenadier platoon. Both were repelled by the tightest of margins - it came down to the company commander's Webley to swing it.

What else would you put under the cloth to make hills for a 1940 game?

Reflections

The value of what-ifs. I wrote a "Reflections on Wargaming" essay on this a couple of years ago. Both our Dorking games were extreme what-ifs, gaming battles as part of invasions that never happened. Nevertheless, they were thought-provoking and generated much discussion about both putative invasions. Essentially this boiled down to the conclusion that the existence of the Royal Navy ruled them both out, barring some Wunderwaffe of the kind hinted at but not properly described by Chesney. As for the battles themselves, the 1875 one went pretty much the way Chesney has it - given another turn or two, the thin red line would have collapsed under the weight of German numbers; the 1940 one was instructive in how difficult it was for the Germans to make progress until the Stukas blew a hole in the defenders.

The value of custom terrain. The terrain shapes the battle. For historical refights to have the right shape, it is therefore important to represent the terrain reasonably accurately. Hills are a particular challenge in this respect (see my essay on that too). For the Dorking game (and Gettysburg and Gravelotte), Phil had gone to great trouble to carve custom hills of exactly the right shape. These undoubtedly made the games more realistic, not to mention looking great. It's not worth the effort for every battle, but for major ones like these that are likely to be played again and again it surely is.

Rationalizing the dice. BBB's use of 2D6 for unit activation, firing and assaults means that, while 'average' results will predominate, there is always a small chance of something rather less likely happening. When that occurs - the devastating fire being brushed off, the overwhelming assault repulsed, the vital brigade next to the commander-in-chief failing to move at the critical time - it is important to be able to tell ourselves a plausible story about what must have happened to produce that result. A nice case in point arose in the 1875 game. Dave's corps was poised to swarm my few defenders on my ridge. The random event for that turn was that the East Surrey Hunt appeared at Polesden Lacey. Three of Dave's brigades promptly failed their movement rolls and sat paralysed for an hour. Our rationalisation? Clearly, they had heard the Hunt's hunting horns and assumed a large force had arrived on their flank!

Getting the toys on the table. While a lovingly crafted, perfectly balanced scenario that generates a close contest and a nailbiting climax is always welcome, there is also considerable pleasure to be had from much less tightly scripted affairs. Our 1940 game was the sketchiest of scenarios - after all, it was entirely fictional anyway - Phil just gave both sides whatever he liked, reinforcing the Germans as they bogged down and reinforcing the British as their defences creaked. The ultimate meta-victory conditions were achieved - he got his toys on the table and we all enjoyed a good-looking game and a ding-dong scrap.

An army marches on its stomach. The rations during our four days were excellent. It behoves me to pay tribute here to the redoubtable Lisa, who conjured up culinary miracles every day, amazing in both quality and quantity. Fortunately Phil's cellar had sufficient wine and Armagnac to wash these down. Fair to say the troops' morale was high throughout.

The HQGE. Another of my "Reflections" essays was this one on the "High Quality Gaming Experience". It lists six key ingredients: Terrain, Troops, Venue, Rules, Scenario, Company. Our four days in France had all of these in spades. This was an Extremely High Quality Gaming Experience and one I hope will be repeated. A la prochaine!