One-Hour Wargames 19: Blow From the Rear

Quite some time ago we started (and eventually finished) a five-game mini-campaign based on the scenarios presented in Neil Thomas' useful book One-Hour Wargames.  The campaign premise is set out here, but basically the idea was to create a sequence of more or less logically linked games drawing from a branching set of possible scenarios.

Württemberg Jäger zu Pferd Herzog-Louis (Warrior Miniatures, 15mm)

The campaign was supposed to be a Napoleonic one, but other periods did creep in.  The four scenarios leading up to this one played (in sequence) were: 

• Scenario 16: Advance Guard (Napoleonic, 20mm, WRG 1685-1845)
• Scenario 14: Static Defence (Napoleonic, 15mm, WRG 1685-1845)
• Scenario 13: Escape (Ancients, 15mm, DBM)
• Scenario 07: Flank Attack (2) (Renaissance, 15mm, Furioso)

As I had lost Scenario 07, Geoff got to choose the last game (Scenario 19) and elected to be Red, possibly because, quoting the book's description of the situation, this is what Blue (me) would have to deal with: "The Blue general is defending two river crossings from what he thinks is a numerically inferior Red force.  His complacency will be shattered when an additional Red contingent arrives in the Blue rear area."  Shattered you say?  We'll see about that...

 

OHW 19 : Deployment and Manoeuvres

 

The scenario required that the Blue army (my 15mm Württembergers, all by Warrior Miniatures) start with two units confined to the road in the south-east corner of the table until Move 7, with four units to be deployed within 6 inches of the river.  Red (Geoff's Austrians) would commence with no units on the table initially, but with three starting on the north side of the map on Move 1 and then three more units appearing from the west on Blue's side of the river at Move 6.

Initial deployment

You'll note from the map that we actually started with seven units each so that we could have some light infantry and artillery, and also that I had forgotten how to spell Württemberg.  The rules we used were WRG 1685-1845, still going strong after all these years.  Anyway, the game opened with the Austrians marching rapidly to contest the bridge. 

 

The Austrians advance to the bridge

Meanwhile a regiment of Austrian infantry crossed the ford to the left of my position, intending to bolster the units that would inevitably 'surprise' me as they appeared from the west.

 

Austrians ford the river

 

Full of enthusiasm, the Austrians charged across the bridge crashing into the Württemberg 1st Line Regiment (with the yellow flag), as the other Württemberg regiments prepared to step in and support. 

 

Austrians charge across the bridge

The Austrian charge managed to push back the 1st Line Regiment but it was not broken.  Meanwhile, the Austrian flanking force had rapidly arrived, supported by the infantry that had crossed the ford.

 

The Austrian flank attacked develops

The Austrians continued to push forward aggressively, probably hoping to shatter the Württembergers, as their infantry charged across the bridge into the halted 1st Line Regiment whilst the Austrian cavalry crashed into my artillery and my Jäger zu Pferd (mounted jägers).

The Austrians attack on all fronts

Mixed results for the Austrians however.  In the centre, the Austrian heavy cavalry easily swept away my artillery and pursued them off the table to the east.  However, the combined firepower from the Württemberg 1st and 4th Line Regiments completely destroyed the Austrian infantry that had managed to cross the bridge, leaving an Austrian general isolated on my side of the river.  Meanwhile the fighting continued between the Jäger zu Pferd and the other Austrian heavy cavalry unit.

Mixed results

Unfortunately for the Austrian cavalry still on the table, they were forced to flee after being bested by the Jäger zu Pferd, aided by some nifty flanking fire from approaching light infantry (Jäger zu Fuß).

Austrian cavalry flee beyond the blue zone

It turned out that things were not going well for the Austrians, with all of their cavalry off the table (or about to be) and having lost a regiment of infantry already.  However, the Austrian infantry that had crossed at the ford was still active and needed to be dealt with.  So, having driven off the Austrian artillery on the other side of the river, the Württemberg 5th Line Regiment (Blue flag) turned to face this threat. 

Württemberers realign to the flank

Despite the 5th Line Regiment taking casualties, the Austrian infantry were being effectively boxed in by the Jägers, with nowhere to go, except to their rear, which is where the Jäger zu Pferd had ended up, having pursued the Austrian cavalry off to the west.  Meanwhile, the other Austrian cavalry that had followed my artillery off the table earlier had reappeared, but were about to be fired on by two regiments of infantry. 

Endgame (nearly)

At this point the Austrians conceded the game, realising that they were outnumbered on all fronts and that they could not achieve the victory condition of ensuring no Württemberg units remained within 6 inches of the river by the end of round 15.

Overall, this was quite an interesting encounter which probably could have gone either way.  The Austrians were aggressive and tried to coordinate their assaults but were unlucky and often flanked, which weakened their attacks.

A Century of Conifers

This month I decided I needed more trees, particularly conifers, and I thought I could make them.  After watching a couple of videos on how to construct pine trees suitable for model railways in the Rockies, I had a go.  My aim was to make trees that would suit 15mm scale down to 6mm.

Württembergers (15mm Warrior) emerge from the forest

This required a simple plan of taking pieces of kitchen scourer (from Poundland) and then impaling them onto cocktail sticks.  The original intent was to follow the videos and tear the scourers into sections, but this ended up being too much effort.

Basic ingredients

I had also initially tried to push the sections of scourer directly onto the sticks but quickly realised I'd need to make a hole in them, otherwise they wouldn't go on, hence the spike (from a biology dissecting kit).

T-55 (6mm Heroics and Ros) in the woods

Before adding each section of scourer I dipped the end of the cocktail stick into some thick PVA (wood) glue so that everything was secure.

Coniferous cubism

Tearing the scourers into sections proved to be tedious and time consuming, so for most of the trees I just cut squarish sections of scourer instead and slotted those on, trimming them into shape later.

A tin of unpainted trees

Finishing the trees required giving them a generous wash of dark brown acrylic then spraying them dark green (Army Painter Angel Green).  Minimal highlighting was added using the scrapings from various pots of green paint I had on my workbench.

Brown before green

Basing involved cutting the cocktail sticks to shorten the tree trunks, then using my new hot glue gun to fix them to 30mm diameter mdf (from Warbases).  These were finished with my usual coarse shelly sand that was then given a wash of dark brown acrylic paint (no dry-brushing required).

A century of conifers

Overall I made exactly 100 of these, hence the reference to 'century', which also hints at how long it felt sometimes it was taking me to make them all.

The Württembergers are Coming

Having painted quite enough 15mm Napoleonic Russians for the time being (see various previous posts, plus this glorious AAR representing their first outing), I decided that having an opposing army of my own on hand might be useful.  I suppose I could have gone for the obvious one, the French, but decided that something from the Confederation of the Rhine might be more interesting.  Enter Württemberg.

Warrior Austrian infantry painted as Württembergers

Then there was the question of what figures to use.  As my Russian army is pre-1812, I decided Württembergers in helmets rather than shakos would be more appropriate.  Not easy to find in 15mm, but then I realised that early Austrians would do just as well if painted up properly, and the simple yet very effective range from Warrior Miniatures would be just the job.

Württemberg 1st and 2nd Regiments

From what research I managed, I discovered that at that time there were nine line regiments in the Württemberg army, with distinct facings and flags.

Württemberg 4th and 5th Regiments

I therefore decided to paint just the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th Regiments because that matched the number of figures I'd bought and also the 3rd Regiment had dark blue facings which I knew would turn out the same as the tunic colour.  However, for the typical size of wargame I would be likely to run (e.g. using scenarios from One-Hour Wargames, where six units in total is usually the maximum) I considered this enough to be getting on with.

Württemberg Light Infantry (Jäger) in open order

In addition to the line regiments I also painted up some Austrian infantry in shakos (each with its green 'turban') as Württemberg light infantry.  As you can see I had them deploying through an area of cleared woodland, the tree stumps being made from cloves liberated from the kitchen spice cupboard.

Württemberg Jäger-Regiment zu Pferd Herzog Louis (3rd Regiment)

For cavalry I used Warrior's Austrian Cheval Leger and finished some as mounted Jäger zu Pferd (green uniforms with yellow facings) and others as Württemberg Chevau-leger (blue uniforms with yellow facings).

Württemberg Chevau-leger (1st Regiment)

I also painted some of Warrior's Bavarian foot artillery as Württemberg artillery.  The helmets are probably not quite right but at 15mm who will notice.

Württemberg foot artillery

Finally, there was a general or two to paint.  I think these were Warrior Prussians but again who would be able to tell the difference.

A Württemberg general

Having completed all these I felt inspired to maybe add to the collection, such as getting some French allies for my compact Württemberg army.  However, sadly Warrior Miniatures is not currently active, although I have heard rumours that it will be coming back on-line sometime in 2025, which I really hope happens.

Jägermeister

I've still got the painting bug and am currently working on my 20mm French Napoleonic collection (see earlier posts this year).  Having completed various infantry units and some excellent Italeri dragoons, I thought I should really paint those Esci cuirassiers that have been under the bed since about 1990.  In fact I'd been in two minds about painting them at all because the figures aren't as good as the dragoons by a long chalk and I was thinking maybe I should just get some Italeri carabiniers instead.

Deliberating on all this I was of course distracted along the way and impulse-bought and painted some HäT Industrie Württemberg cavalry (Jägers) in the two weeks it took me to decide what to do.  These were the first HäT figures I'd painted and I found them quite nice with a lot of well defined detail.  The plastic, although a bit flexible, takes the paint very well.

There are only four poses (12 figures altogether) on three identical sprues in the box (and only two types of horse), but one man on each sprue comes with a choice of arms that you have to glue on.  I made one of them a trumpeter in the vivid yellow coat.  I think the troopers look quite good in their black gauntlets, dark green tunics and yellow trim.

Based up for the WRG 1685-1845 rules on 60mm x 40mm bases, with my usual concoction of coarse sand, painted dark earth then dry brushed in a sandy colour and then flocked, I consider that they've turned out very well.  And I think I'm really getting the hang of painting horses now after my initial hesitations. 

Oh, and finally, here are the cuirassiers. I had two ancient packets of them stashed away and was able to make quite a few bases although whether they'll all get an outing at the same time remains to be seen.

So that's it then, apart from six bases of Italeri French hussars to finish and perhaps one or two more Italeri line infantry regiments (possibly to be painted as Saxons or Swiss, just for a change).

However, I'd really like to get some HäT Württemberg infantry now, as well as the HäT French Guard Chasseurs a Pied, but neither seem to be available in the UK at present.  Still, I could always acquire and paint up some carabiniers in the meantime...