What I did on the Anzac Day long weekend (also known as Easter)

It's been a long long time since we in Australia have had a 5 day weekend. Anzac Day fell on the Monday that should have been Easter Monday and since Anzac Day cannot be moved, Tuesday was made Easter Monday and together with Good Friday, meant we all had 5 days off work. Yay!

So what did I do with my 5 days?

1st of all I got stuck into my Afghanistan terrain project for the The Guild forum. See another post for an update on that one.

In amongst that, I finally got around to organising my 6mm Adler Prussians using the new 15mm base sizes for Empire. It meant that each base would contain 2 rows of 3 figures with 8 bases being the 4 companies or 8 "zugs" of a Prussian battalion. Multiply this all by 3 and we get a full regiment.

I decided on building the 1815 I Korps to begin with.

It starts with the 12th Regiment of Infantry. Some quick research in books and online reveals this is one of the hardest regiments to find accurate info on. It appears to be a new regiment compiled from a bunch of different units in 1815. The uniform information is conflicting by the Waterloo book I have by Haythornwaite (Uniforms of Waterloo in Colour) says the 1st battalion had black jackets with red collar and white pants. It says the second battalion had black litewkas and nothing on the 3rd battalion. I also checked the French Waterloo website called http://www.mont-saint-jean.com/ and it shows black and white for the 1st battalion, the usual dark blue and grey for the 2nd and grey jacket and pants for the 3rd battalion.

I decided on a mixture. I would paint the 1st and 2nd battalions with a black jacket with red collar and white pants and the 3rd battalion with grey jacket with red collar and white pants.

The hunt for flags was hard as well. The only reference I could find was for a pre 1806 flag for the 12th regiment. That would do.

And here they are:

Moving on to the next regiment in that Corps, the 24th Regiment which was renamed from a reserve infantry regiment. This unit was all grey jackets with red collars and grey pants. Should not take too long.

See you soon.

1:15 ratios Cavalry sorted

After receiving tonnes of feedback (from an earlier posting here) both on here, via email and the various forums I am a member on, I have decided to go with a single rank of 6 figures.

Prior to that a squadron looked like below with the width doubled out:

A squadron will now look like this. Double the width but also more figs fitting onto the base:

The figures are literally boot to boot and I think gives a good medium between the double width basing and the mass I was trying to achieve. So regiment of 480 men in 4 x squadrons will being 16 figures, they will now be 24 figures. And instead of Cavalry matching the Infantry at 1:15 ratio, they will be 1:20 ratio.

As usual comments are more than welcome.

1:15 ratios Cavalry feedback required

Recently on a post where I finally came to a conclusion about the basing and figure ratios I would use for my own solo gaming, Jimbo asked the question:

"How do you intend to apply this for Cavalry?"

"It would be the same idea", I thought to myself.

But then last night I was laying awake in bed and thinking, "WOULD it be the same?"

So this morning I did some research and took some pics. My conclusion is neither here nor there and so I require some feedback from you the readers.

WHICH DO YOU PREFER?

First up is a normal 8 figure regiment of 4 x squadrons used in Empire:

And this is 1 x squadron of 2 figures or 120men at 1:60 ratio:

If I follow the same logic as for the Infantry, where I double the width and depth, I get 1 x squadron looking like:

This looks too deep to me when compared with the width. But it is consistent and true to 1:15 ratios and is true to the 15mm basing size which matches what has been done with the Infantry.

This next pic looks better to me from a proportion point of view but it is only 1:30 ratio.

A little research reveals that this may be okay width-wize. In Mark Adkin's The Waterloo Companion, he has a picture of a British square being charged by 1 single squadron of French Cavalry. It clearly shows that squadron well and truly overlapping the width of the square.

My new squadrons do not do that. BUT! This may be because a normal square would be half the width of my square because instead of being deployed in 2 or 3 ranks, the infantry would be in 4 or 6 ranks. So by halving the width of the square, my squadron would look right.

Which means a whole regiment of 4 x squadrons would look like:

If I went back to the original consistent scaling earlier in this post, this regiment should look like:

And when both units are in line:

So your turn!

What do you think? The 32 figure regiment of double rank or the 16 figure regiment of single rank? The width is good, what about the depth?

Click here to see the next part in this dicussion.

Finished a Division of French Infantry at 1:15 ratio

As a follow on to finally settling the base size and ratio issue: http://wardepot.blogspot.com/2011/02/6mm-or-15mm-160-or-115-debate-finalised.html all the rebasing is complete and touchups are done. Most were debased and rebased, some were simply glued together and others had their magnet removed and then grouped together on a larger magnet. Pretty quick actually.

Then I had to go through and redo all the pom poms and plumes so their companies match correctly.

Se here we are. My 1st French Infantry Division at 1:15 ratios.

All my French Divisions are based on 2 x Brigades of 2 x Regiments with each Regiment having 3 x Battalions at paper strength of 720men.  This is then adjusted for historical refights or combined for the larger Brigades in Russia. Pretty flexible. 1 x Regiment is always Legere (light infantry).

The Legere regiment leads with 1 battalion in line and 2 battalions in column of attack in support. Behind those are the 2nd regiment from the 1st Brigade and then the 2nd Brigade in column or march.

 A Legere battalion in line

 A line battalion in column of attack, 2 companies wide

 A battery of 8 guns

 A foot artillery piece and crew in action

2nd Brigade marching up in column of march

On to the 2nd Division now and then jump into a Cavalry Division.

6mm or 15mm; 1:60 or 1:15 - the debate finalised?

For a while now I have been contemplating what base sizing and therefore what figure to men ratios I should settle on for my own solo Empire napoleonic gaming.

Empire is written with a 1:60 ratio in mind. So a 720 man battalion in line is simply 12 figures side by side.

This translates easily to other ratios. In the past I have played 1:30 ratios and use 2 figures for every 1 and even played around with 1:15 ratios and use 4 figures in place of 1. The problem occurs with distances. The ranges for shooting and moving and so forth.

Base sizes are just that. Base sizes. So I could in reality put what ever sized figures I want on those bases and multiple that out to the number of "figures" that would be. For example, I regularly game with a group who use 6mm Adler miniatures with Empire. For this, they half all the sizes and distances stated for 15mm figures and use the same 12 man battalions as for 15mm or even 25mm. This works well and a quick look through my After Action Reports will show massed 6mm battles involved multiple corps on either side.

INFANTRY IN 3 RANKS

Empire says a battalion of 12 figures in line for 15mm should be based 12 x 10mm wide and 12.5mm deep. I converted these from inches.

This is a total of 120mm wide x 12.5mm deep for 15mm.

For 6mm this would be 60mm wide x around 6mm deep. In all the 6mm gaming I do, we all use 60mm wide x 5mm deep as you can see from the 1st pic in this post.

INFANTRY IN 2 RANKS

Empire says a battalion of 12 figures in line for 15mm should be based 12 x 12.5mm wide and 12.5mm deep. I converted these from inches.

This is a total of 150mm wide x 12.5mm deep for 15mm.

For 6mm this would be 75mm wide x around 6mm deep. In all the 6mm gaming I do, we all use 75mm wide x 5mm deep.

CAVALRY

Empire says a regiment of 8 figures in line for 15mm should be based 8 x 18.75mm wide.

This is a total of 150mm wide.

For 6mm this would be 75mm wide. In all the 6mm gaming I do, we all use 80mm wide.

ARTILLERY

Empire says each gun model is really 2 or 3 guns so a battery of 8 guns in line for 15mm should be based 4 x 18.75mm wide.

This is a total of 75mm wide and 4 gun models.

For 6mm this would be 37mm wide and 4 gun models. In all the 6mm gaming I do, we all use 20mm wide and 1 gun model.

In reality it is hard to get 4 guns models onto a base 75mm for 15mm or 37mm for 6mm. In reality most Empire players half their gun models making the bases the same size but only 2 guns for an 8 gun battery with 4 crew on each gun model or 2 guns with a slightly smaller wide base for a 6 gun battery with 3 crew on each gun model.

There is also some research done. One of the groups I belong to built a gaming table to match a particular battle and had all the terrain sized to match the historical map. When he tried deploying a massed battery in the historical space mentioned, only half the guns would fit. This led to some extreme research being done and we all found that the basing should be halved and results in just 1 gun model with 3 or 4 crew with each crew representing 2 guns. This has been working very well so far.

DOUBLING THE FIGURES (1:30 RATIO)

Doubling could be giving everything double the figure depth or doubling the width. I think part of the whole idea of doubling the figures would be to look more like a line, long and gangly, or a column, wider than it is deep but still a massed blocked of men. To simple double the depth would be to make formations look thinner than they actually were in width.

The battalion in the centre is actually in line! Doubly deep.

The double depth just does not look that good keeping the original width.

The battalion in the centre is now in line with double the figures wide.

Doubling the width looks better. It actually means I am using 6mm figures with 15mm bases. Not a bad thing.

WHAT ABOUT MASS?

One of the advantages of using 6mm besides being so quick to paint and so cheap to purchase is the ability to use more figures in your units. For our Empire group, the advantage of 6mm for us has always been the 2 mentioned above AND the ability to field large armies on moderately sized tables. A battalion of 12 figures takes little room and allows for hundreds of these to be deployed into action.

Looking at the alternate way of taking advantage of the numbers game, we could use large units. These look fantastic. In reality we would be moving back to 15mm gaming from a table size point of view. Not that bad a thing considering my table can be anywhere from 4' x 4' to 8' x 4' which is common for 15mm gaming.

So if I can't double the depth without doubling the width, then I can do both. This is now 4x the figures or 1:15 ratios.

This looks good. 48 figure battalions in in line and attack columns

A 48 figure battalion in column of march

A 48 man battalion in square

BUT WHAT ABOUT DISTANCES IN THE RULES?

Because I am using 15mm basing, I should probably use 15mm distances and ranges. But this may feel funny when compared to the figure height being 6mm. Testing will be required. I have already ruled out using the 6mm distances as these are now way too short for the bases being used. 15mm I think may be too long. Maybe the 15mm distances in inches can be made 1 for 1 into cm and then doubled. This would reduce everything by about 1/4. So 8 inch engagement range becomes 16cm and 40 inch Grand Tactical Movement in columns becomes 80cm. Should work okay. Testing will reveal all.



WHAT ABOUT MY FIGURE COLLECTION SO FAR?

I have tonnes and tonnes of 6mm Adler in my possession. In some instances more than enough needed for 1:60 ratios to complete the formations I aim to complete. Using 4x the figures will mean slower progress (which some might say is already quite slow) but considering I would not need to make more purchases and that after moving I do have more time, this should still work out okay.

BUT HOW AM I TO FIELD MULTIPLE CORPS IN MY SOLO BATTLES?

This is a concern to me. My aim is to build armies of the main nations involved in a 2 or 3 main theatres during the wars. To begin with, I have been working on the 100 days. Now I was not intending on building the entire army of each nation, but a sample that can be used repeatedly to fill the full OOB. Afterall, not all Corps are on the field at the same time in the same place. My idea is to build portions of the OOB and when I play a battle, split the field and fight the sections 1 at a time. This makes good use of my limited space and sits nicely with the solo rules I am creating for the enemy. So the whole French army during the 100 days campaign was to be 2 x full Corps of Infantry being 8 Divisions, 1 Reserve Cavalry Corps and the Guard Corps. The Prussians were to be 2 full Corps of Prussians, and so on. You get the idea.

But can I still achieve this using 48 figure units? I probably can, but I will probably split the field a little more and reduce the number of divisions to be built. But who knows? 1 step at a time.

HOW CAN YOU FIT IN WITH YOUR REGULAR GROUPS?

Well the quick answer is I can't. And I really don't need to. The group I play with is hosted by Michael and he has such a massive collection of ready to Adler armies that we can play Waterloo twice and certainly play any battle from any time in the period. Everything is there. I have never needed to bring my troops over.

My armies will be for games hosted at my place and mostly for my own solo campaigns.

CONCLUSION

So there it is. The debate over ratios is finished and I have settled on 15mm basing with 3/4 distances and 1:15 ratios. Good stuff.

A French battalion in column on the left with another battalion in square on the right and a battery of 8 guns deployed in between.

Click here to see the next part in this discussion.

For those who are numbers driven

Here is the OOB and casualty counts for the battle a few days ago at:
http://wardepot.blogspot.com/2011/01/after-action-report-112011.html

French III Corps commanded by Marshal David - began with 19200 men and 32 guns and lost 3000 men and 0 guns
   5th Infantry Division - began with 6000 men and 8 guns and lost 1200 men and 0 guns
      1st Brigade (4 battalions) - began with 2880 men and lost 660 men
      2nd Brigade (4 battalions) - began with 2880 men and lost 540 men
      Divisional Artillery (1 battery) - began with 8 guns and 240 men and lost 0 men and 0 guns
   6th Infantry Division - began with 6000 men and 8 guns and lost 900 men and 0 guns
      1st Brigade (4 battalions) - began with 2880 men and lost 480 men
      2nd Brigade (4 battalions) - began with 2880 men and lost 420 men
      Divisional Artillery (1 battery) - began with 8 guns and 240 men and lost 0 guns and 0 men
   7th Infantry Division - began with 6000 men and 8 guns and lost 840 men and 0 guns
      1st Brigade (4 battalions) - began with 2880 men and lost 0 men
      2nd Brigade (4 battalions) - began with 2880 men and lost 840 men
      Divisional Artillery (1 battery) - began with 8 guns and 240 men and lost 0 guns and 0 men
   3rd Cavalry Division - began with 960 men and lost 60 men
      2nd Brigade (2 regiments) - began with 960 men and lost 60 men
   III Corps Artillery Reserve (1 battery) - began with 8 guns and 240 men and lost 0 guns and 0 men

Prussian VII Korps - began with 35120 men and 40 guns and lost 2790 men and 21 guns
   15th Infantry Brigade (9 battalions) - began with 5640 Line Infantry, 2160 Landwehr Infantry, 320 Landwehr Cavalry and 8 guns and lost 660 Line Inf, 660 Landwehr Infantry and 60 Lw Cav and 6 guns
   16th Infantry Brigade (9 battalions) - began with 5640 Line Infantry, 2160 Landwehr Infantry, 320 Landwehr Cavalry and 8 guns and lost 300 Line Inf, 540 Lw Inf and 7 guns
   17th Infantry Brigade (9 battalions) - began with 5640 Line Infantry, 2160 Landwehr Infantry, 320 Landwehr Cavalry and 8 guns and lost 0 men and 0 guns
   18th Infantry Brigade (9 battalions) - began with 5640 Line Infantry, 2160 Landwehr Infantry, 320 Landwehr Cavalry and 8 guns and lost 0 men and 0 guns
   VII Korps Kavalry Brigade (3 regiments) - began with 1440 men and lost 0 men
   VII Korps Reserve Artillery (1 battery) - began with 8 guns and 240 men and lost 6 guns and 180 men

After Action Report - 1/1/2011

(I apologise in advance for the pics - I am currently rebuilding all my terrain and scenics and some of my army formations are incomplete and not painted yet)

For International Solo Wargaming Day this year (1/1/11) I thought I would have a game of Empire V with about a corps of French on 1 side and a corps of Prussians on the other. I would play the French and with instructions to "attack the enemy to your front holding the area just south of the road to Berlin". No worries I thought. Under my command was III Corps made up of 3 Infantry Divisions and a Division of Cavalry. Unfortunately, 1 of the Cavalry Brigades from the Cavalry Division was out scouting for the main army which left me with a single Brigade of Light Cavalry.

I took my escort and scouted the area to my front. Over a few hours I had gethered some good intel on the force I was to attack as my formations marched to the assembly areas I had assigned for them. Ahead of me I had an open area of flat grassland broken up with a number of farmed fields and 2 main farms. This is where I spotted the enemy. 2 x Division strength groups defending the 2 farms and the area around them. I would need to push through these formations if I was follow my orders and attack north to the road to Berlin. 2 x Brigades of Prussian Infantry should be easy to cast aside. What worried me was what lay behind them, if anything at all.

At 0900hrs my divisions began moving according to the orders I had sent out hours before:

"5th Infantry Division (5DIV) is to attack the enemy force holding the ground in and around the left farm to the right of the ridgeline. Lead off with your 1st Brigade with a battalion of Legere in semi skirmish in order to screen your movement."

"6th Infantry Division (6DIV) is to attack the enemy force holding the ground in and around the right farm. Lead off with your 1st Brigade with a battalion of Legere in semi skirmish in order to screen your movement."

"7th Infantry Division (7DIV) is to stay in the assembly area in reserve."

"2nd Brigade/3rd Cavalry Division (3CAV) is support/intercept to the right and slightly behind 5DIV."

With an entire Division held in reserve I felt I could comfortably engage and push aside the 2 x Prussian Brigades (Divisions) and continue to the road.

At 1000hrs, 5DIV and 6DIV both contacted the enemy quickly and battle ensued. My Cavalry advanced in support of 5DIV and stayed out of contact with the enemy until needed.

Intense firing between skirmish lines broke out. My lead Brigades both had trouble launching themselves through our own thick skirmisher screens. Enventually they both found their targets. 5DIV was the 1st to succeed by routing 1 and pushing back another of the 3 x Prussian Landwehr battalions in line. Only 1 battalion remaind in the original position.

In the centre my supporting Cavalry Brigade had become engaged and was threatening a number of Prussian battalions. The Regiment of Hussars followed a battalion of Infantry into the fray when it routed the Prussian Landwehr battalion, hoping to exploit the gap. The other regiment, Chasseurs began taking fire from a battry positioned in front of the farm on the right of the battlefield. This was directly in front of it, so the regiment charged it and successfully routed it from the field. Having no where to go to capitalise on this success, it soon took fire from a confident square of Prussian infantry to its right and was forced to flee. This regiment did not return.

6DIV on the right, found itself with half of it's lead Brigade right in front of an enemy battery and so it concerned itself with charged numerous times, taking casualties each time only to be repelled, recover and try again.

 After 1 hour of fighting, we had made little progress and I received word of the death of the Brigade commander of the lead brigade from the 6th Infantry Division. This came at about the same time as I got a report from 5DIV mentioning it had killed the enemy commander of the Prussian forces it was in combat with. I wondered how many more good leaders were going to die today.

At 1100hrs, with the enemy guns removed from the centre in front of the farm, and a battalion of enemy infantry in square to it's right, I caught a glimpse of the area behind the enemy formations and decided this was a good spot to exploit. I sent orders for the 7th Infantry Division to attack this location immediately. I also had a reserve battery of 12 pounders that serves as my corps artillery. This I attached to the attacking 7DIV.

"7th Infantry Division is to attack the location to the immediate right of the right hand farm and push the enemy from this position. Lead with your 2nd Brigade in attack columns and use your elite light regiment to assault any resilient defenders."

As I watched it's progress through the farmed fields towards it's objective, my heart sank. Beyond the enemy positions I could just make out what appeared to be enemy reserves moving into position closer my objectives. On the left I observed a Prussian Cavalry Brigade and in the centre I saw a 3rd full Brigade of Prussian Infantry. So now I was engaging 3 x division sized formations of Prussian Infantry and a brigade of cavalry. This may turn out to be a little harder than I had 1st anticipated.

The attacks on the enemy lines continued. Prussian Landwehr battalions were defending admirably, but they would not be able to hold up for much longer. My battalions were firing and assaulting them repeatedly and the larger landwehr battalions were taking huge casualties for their efforts.

The guns defending the attack from 6DIV were overrun and it's artillery deployed almost on the same position and began firing canister at the enemy.

My infantry were having a hard time of it. Numerous close assaults and firefights had resulted in a number of my battalions routing from the attack. My commanders were chasing them all over trying to rally them, and in doing so, were removing themselves from their positive affect they have on their men. My attacks were stalling. These Prussian lines were beginning to take a toll on my corps.

Prussian casualties were mounting and yet they were still holding. My men were getting tired. 2 battalions had been routed off the field from 6DIV after 2 squadrons of Prussian Landwehr Cavalry had caught them on the flank. Both failed to form square in time and were cut down. A 3rd battalion also did not form square in time but managed to fight off the enemy horsemen who then fleed the field.

More of my battalions were fleeing the field. 6 at a time at one point. I was beginning to get the idea I needed to break off and rest and rally my troops and maybe get some reinforcements to assist me. The Prussians were annoying me.

A courier from 6DIV reported to me that most of their 1st brigade was now shaken and enbroiled in a tit for tat shooting match with the Prussians. Assessment of 5DIV confirmed they had lost most of their 1st brigade and their 2nd was now mostly in line and shooting also. This was not how a fast attack through the enemy should be done.

It was 1200hrs. I sent out break off orders to all elements and decided to hold a defensive position to the south as I await reinforcements and instructions from my commander. My III Corps had a bloody nose but I was certain revenge could be obtained soon.

(this game was played using the rules Empire V with the 6mm figures from Adler Miniatures and covered 4 hours of battle and took about the same time in real time as well - David)