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Empire Napoleonics Introductory Game

Saturday the local HMGS-South group played a Napoleonic game at the Dogs of War shop using a modified version of the Empire V rules. The game was a introduction to the rules, so no specific historical battle was represented. Each player had a division of infantry, cavalry and artillery.

15mm figures from a variety of manufacturers.

Prussians and Russians (foreground) face Poles and other French allies.

Austrians and British (foreground) face French.

The Austrians advance in a compact mass in the center.

French cavalry quickly destroy the British and Austrian cavalry, then turn to face the exposed Allied infantry.

Prussian cavalry attempt a wide flanking move.

French cavalry hit an Austrian column in the flank and destroy it. They are then seen off by British infantry fire.

WWI Naval Battle – Bay of Algiers, 1914

This fleet action is based on the Triple Alliance naval convention of 1913, as described in “The Great War at Sea” by Sondhaus. The plan was for the Italian and Austro-Hungarian fleets and any German ships in the Mediterranean to engage the French Fleet and block the Algerian troop transports. This scenario assumes that the war starts in February 1914, and that the British Mediterranean squadron joins the French.

Due to the generally longer ranges of the Triple Alliance guns, the French and British ships were under fire and unable to respond for the first few turns. Both sides had difficulty forming coherent battle lines due to the wide variation in ship speeds and capabilities. The Goeben and Dante Alighieri eventually destroyed the three British battlecruisers. Based on the situation when we quit, the French Algerian troops could be very late arriving in France.

Scale: 1/6000 miniatures, 500 yards/in ground scale.

Rules: Computer code in development.

Visibility 24,000 yards. Wind northwesterly at 6 knots. Seastate 2.

Status at the end of the game: Alg status

Damage output file: Alg-out

Plot of ship movements: Alg-plot

The opposing fleets meet north of the Bay of Algiers

Unable to respond to the long range fire of the Triple Alliance fleet, the French and British make smoke and try to close.

British armoured cruisers are damaged and Inflexible blows up.

Indomitable blows up and Indefatigable sinks.

The Italians lose an armoured cruiser and a torpedo boat division.

Rapid Fire – Modern

Saturday the local HMGS-South group played a modern period game using the Rapid Fire rules. The six players each had a team of US troops in a vehicle (mostly Humvees). The objective was to enter a village and capture an arms dealer selling US equipment to the opposition.

The opposition with some US equipment, including Humvees with TOWs.

An enemy TOW heavily damages the US commander’s vehicle.

Enemies appear from several buildings as the US forces approach.

The arms dealer is captured. A civilian vehicle is commandeered to get prisoners out of town.

Several of the US Humvees will need some repairs.

WWI Naval Battle – North Sea January 1915

This fleet action is based on the low point of Grand Fleet numerical superiority over the High Seas Fleet, as described in Massie, Robert K., “Castles of Steel,” Chapter 20, page 372. Based on the results of the Dogger Bank scenario played earlier, the opposing battle cruisers are still under repair.

Scale: 1/6000 miniatures, 500 yards/in ground scale.

Rules: Computer code in development.

Visibility 12,000 yards. Wind southwesterly at 24 knots. Seastate 4.

Status at the end of the game: NS15status

Damage output file: NS15-output

Plot of ship movements:
First 40 minutes NS15plot1-40
40-50 minutes NS15plot40-50
50-60 minutes NS15plot50-60
60-70 minutes NS15plot60-70

The light cruiser screens engage.

Two British dreadnoughts have blown up. The leading German dreadnoughts accumulate damage.

Confusion on both sides as slower ships drop astern.

1/1200 Ancient Naval Basing

The 1/1200 scale ancient ships were temporarily re-based for Hail, Agrippa! simply by sticking the old individual bases to cardboard. In order to use the same ships for various game systems, they are being fitted with rare earth magnets. Custom 40 mm x 130 mm magnetic hardboard bases were made by Good Ground LLC. The magnetic material on the bases is intended for transport using steel drawers. Here they are being used upside down so the rare earth magnets on the ships will stick. This allows for variations in the type, number and positions of ships.

[Edit: Since the Good Ground bases are magnetic, a piece of ferrous metal on the bottom of the ship model works as well or better than a rare earth magnet. My recent ships have been built using a small zinc-plated steel washer or a square of tin-plated steel sheet. This is easier and cheaper than the magnets.]