The club Frostgrave League - continuing the scenario

Well, the Frostgrave League was much delayed by an unfortunate accident involving a staircase, an ankle and Andy, who has been running our "Find The Necromancer" series of linked scenarios. Anyway, Any is now back on both feet and the latest round of the adventure will be on 13th May. That, of course reminded me that I never wrote up the previous round, which we played back at the beginning of April.

Anyway, the scenario took our bands of treasure hunters and ne'er do wells out of the Frozen City to a location strewn with ancient ruins on the edge of some woods of bad repute. Woods in fantasy games are always of bad repute and will usually contain denizens who are unlikely to be a bunch of happy Teddy Bears having a jolly picnic and, when it comes to ancient ruins, well, the less said, the better.

This scenario had an unusual starting position. Each band was only allowed to field four of its members, each group to be led by either a Wizard, an Apprentice or a Captain. Richard, Owen and I all diced for who would do what, and I was tasked with providing my newly recruited Captain, with Richard sending the Wizard and Owen his Apprentice.

We were soon moving forwards into the unknown and the first unpleasntness to emerge was a Werewolf (here portrayed by my Werewolf from the My Last Sunrise set from Bad Squiddo). Owen's bunch of adventurers were able to see him off and things proceeded.

My group's job was to proceed to the building we could glimpse in the woods in the distance. However, on the way we were beset by a Giant Spider, but this proved to be vastly inferior to Shelob and was easily dealt with.

Advancing towards the woods, more creatures emerged, throwing javelins and disappearing, leaving me with a deceased Treasure Hunter.

I was unable to get them into combat, which was annoying, but hardly unexpected.

Finally, my Thug did manage to engage one of the things.

Elsewhere, more of them emerged and proved to be tough opponents.

Tough enough to kill my Thug, requiring the attentions of my Captain, Richard's War Hound and, eventually my Archer too.

It was clearly upset by my calling it a "horrible goblin thingy" but I did eventually kill it, but my Captain took a lot of wounds in the process.

Elsewhere, in what one can only call an Accursed Burying Ground a seriously Big Bad Thing emerged. My weakened Captain was in no shape to confront it, but Richard kindly healed some of my wounds with a spell.

It was a tough opponent, and appeared to be immune to normal weapons, but it was eventually killed, leaving Richard to discover an Enchanted Vorpal Sword among the graves.

Elsewhere, a twin Big Bad Thing was causing havoc with Owen's adventurers.

This one appeared to be immune to Magic, so I sent in my Captain, and she proceeded to go into battle against the vile beast. Eventually, the BBT fell to a combined attack from myself and Owen. 

Unhappily, my Captain was then set upon by evil Hounds, but by now the game was over, because we had the Enchanted Vorpal Sword, so we called it a day.

In the next round, I will be supplying the Wizard, so I am hoping that Ermengarde the Elementalist will prove to be a success and not get herself killed.

In the post-game accounting, my Treasure Hunter emerged unscathed, but my Thug was permanently dead. 

The raid on the trading post, part two - the AAR

Well, after yesterday's scene setting, time to move on to the actual game. We rolled to choose sides. Owen won the roll and elected to defend. The table was laid out like this. First, the view from the Bordurian end of the table.

And now, two views of the Syldavian trading post of Schlopp, a small town with a large market square.

In this second picture, you can see the Syldavian Primary Deployment Point (represented by a colour party) wandering aimless around. It would actually be placed in the market square.

The Bordurians, in the shape of the Freikorps Schtroumpf Fusiliers, were first on the table, led by Kapetan Dimitar Cantacuzene, a very distant relative of the Bordurian Autokrat Constantine II.

Before long, the Syldavian light troops began to appear, no doubt alerted by woodsmen and shepherds fleeing the advancing enemy. First, Pandurs from the Douma regiment.

More Syldavian troops began to deploy; Pandur skirmishers and light infantry Schützen (rated as Good Shots) from the Strelec Jäger regiment taking up firing positions in the cornfields. These were soon in action, firing at long range on the Freikorps. The Bordurians were slower to arrive, but some Hajduk skirmishers took up a position in the woods and caused some shock on the main body of the Pandurs.

The Freikorps Schtroumpf Hussars arrived, resplendent in their blue and white uniforms and led by the dashing and impetuous Kapetan Alexios Doukas. 

Holding a strong line across the cornfields and animal pens of the town, the Syldavian light troops were doing a good job of holding up the Bordurian advance. Even more worrying was the non-appearance of the Kashkaval Lancers. As things were turning out, their deployment wasn't going to be in an advantageous place. I had hoped to deploy all my cavalry early on from the Hajduk skirmishers Moveable Deployment Point in the small copse in the middle of the picture above, but the speedy arrival of the Douma Pandurs had made this impossible.

Throwing caution to the winds, Kapetan Doukas charged his Hussars into the Pandurs at the gallop. These light cavalry have the Blood-curdling characteristic ("Tomahawks" in the rulebook), which means that they cause shock when attacking for each 6 rolled on a D6, using 1D6 for each figure in the group. As always seems to happen, the resulting Fisticuffs was bloody, but the gallant Hussars came off worst and were forced to withdraw. However, the amount of shock accumulated by the Pandurs meant that the group in combat were also forced to pull back, breaking the formation.

Using four Command Flags, I reactivated the Hussars and they galloped in again, this time wiping out the now unloaded Pandurs for no further losses. Unfortunately, the main body of Syldavian infantry, from the Istow Fusiliers had now arrived. Before long, an uncontrolled volley from the front group of the column drove the Hussars back, making a swift charge into the town unlikely. Winning was beginning to look impossible for the Bordurians. Oberst Maximilian von Taschentuch, the commander of the Syldavian Fusiliers was content to stay in the town, protecting it from assault.

Elsewhere, the Bordurian advance had stalled. The lancers had still not arrived, and Kapetan Cantacuzene had taken a wound from skirmishing fire which had left him knocked out.  

Finally, the Kashkaval Lancers turned up, and were soon looking around for something to charge into. Their leader, Porucnik (i.e. Lieutenant) Mihail Xinomavro decided that the battered Strelec Jägers would be easy meat and set about charging in.

This didn't seem a bad idea, seeing as the Syldavians had broken their formation into two groups and the Bordurian Hajduks, although the worst troops on the table, were managing to cause shock and casualties.

Recklessly, the Kashkaval Lancers advanced into a storm of musketry, losing half their number dead. Tiffin intervened, but their chip was amazingly the first one drawn in the next turn and they ploughed onwards. The picture shows the outcome of the combat before I removed the Bordurian casualties (The Syldavian dead were already gone). Yes, the Lancers had lost, and even worse were wiped out, with only the hapless leader, Mihail Xinomavro left on the table. So much for my cavalry threat.

That was pretty much it for the Bordurians. I had too few troops left to have any hope of getting into the town of Schlopp, despite the now-revitalised Kapetan Cantacuzene controlling the centre and wiping out the annoying Pandurs who had held things up for so long.

Over on the Bordurian right flank, the Smederevka Hajduks, after a few volleys of musketry which led to a huge pall of smoke obscuring the valley between the two small hills, charged into combat against the much weakened Strelec Jägers, predictably pushing the Syldavian light infantry back, but it was a Pyrrhic victory and the Bordurians were compelled to withdraw.

Well, it was a frustrating game from the Bordurian perspective. Although I managed to get Syldavian morale dropping steadily by weakening the forward defensive screen of Pandurs, Jägers and  associated skirmishers, the cost to me was too high. In effect, my force was defeated by these dogged defenders, with the Istow Fusiliers staying well back and acting as a reserve only.

My plan had depended on getting my cavalry on the table early, ideally before the Syldavians were properly deployed, and making a dash for the town, but the chips didn't come out as I wanted. Owen played his hand perfectly, using his skirmishers to weaken my troops and his Pandur and Jäger line groups to stop any real breakthrough from happening. Yes, they were massively weakened in the end, with loads of dead, but they did their job perfectly.

The Fisticuffs really exposed the weakness of Scouting Cavalry against infantry, but without any Impact Cavalry they were the only chance I had to get through the defensive line, especially once my main group of infantry were stalled by the incapacity of their leader.

Anyway, it was a good game and it was nice to see my imagi-nations on the table again.

The raid on the trading post, part one - Sharp Practice in Syldavia and Borduria

This game in set in the mid-18th century and is a clash between the two well-known (to readers of Tintin) imagi-nations of Syldavia and Borduria. The forces used will be some of my Essex Miniatures 15mm Syldavians and Bordurians, details of which can be found elsewhere on this blog.

I'll be playing this scenario this afternoon at the club, but I thought that I'd set the scene before the game. The scenario represents a typical raid by Bordurian Freikorps and regional forces against a Syldavian garrison protecting a trading outpost. Such raids were common along the borders between the two countries, even when they were not formally at war. It is a variation of Scenario Three “Defence in Depth” on p. 74 in the rulebook.

The image comes from the book and is copyright of the TooFatLardies

The book sets the scenario out thus;

INTRODUCTION

This game is a Battle. One side is attacking a position, which is held in depth.

DEPLOYMENT POINTS

Red has two Deployment Points for this game. His Primary Deployment Point may be placed anywhere in the red shaded Zone 1, a secondary Fixed Deployment Point in Zone 2.

Blue may place a Primary and Secondary Deployment Point within 6” of points 1 and 2.

Both sides may add other Fixed or Moveable Deployment Point if available.

OBJECTIVE

To win a victory Blue must capture Red’s Primary Deployment Point. If that is achieved, the game will end immediately.

TERRAIN & MINOR CHARACTERS

There are no specific terrain requirements for this scenario. Before the game begins, roll a D6 to see if any Minor Characters are present. On a 1 to 3 none are present, on a 4 to 6 two civilian Minor Characters is present. They have no objective but are simply conducting their everyday business.

I have made some changes to this basic scenario, which are outlined below.

Red are the defending Syldavians and Blue are the attacking Bordurians. Zone 1 represents the Trading Post itself and Zone 2 consists of a number of fields. The rest of the terrain is lightly wooded.

The Syldavian forces consist of;

3 groups of 8 Line Fusiliers (Status III leader and Status I leader, musician) from the Istow Regiment

2 groups of Jägers in Line (Status II leader) and 1 group of Jäger skirmishing light infantry (Status I leader) from the Strelec Regiment

2 groups of Pandurs in Line (Status II leader)

1 group of Pandur skirmishers (Status I leader), both from the Douma Pandur Regiment

1 ammunition wagon

1 water cart

Moveable Deployment Point

The Bordurian forces consist of;

3 groups of 8 Freikorps Schtroumpf Fusiliers (1 Status III leader and 1 Status I leader)

2 groups of Hajduks in Line (Status II leader)

1 group of Hajduk skirmishers (Status I leader) both from the Smederevka Regiment

1 group of Freikorps Schtroumpf Hussars (Status II leader, Musician, Colours)

1 group of Lancers (Status I leader) from the Kashkaval Regiment

1 ammunition wagon

1 mule train

Moveable Deployment Point

Minor characters

There are four groups of livestock animals in two pens behind Zone 2. These may be captured by the Bordurians. Each captured group must be accompanied by 1 Bordurian who can no longer fight in fisticuffs or shoot.

There are civilians in the trading post. These can also be captured by the Bordurians in the same way as the livestock. All of these are Peter Pig figures.

Until the two Tiffin chips have been drawn, the chips for the Syldavian Fusilier leaders will not be in the bag. This represents delays in the troops leaving their barracks and arriving on the field of battle.

Chips are allocated thus;

Syldavian forces (red)

Istow Regiment: 1 = Status III leader 2 = Status I leader

Strelec Regiment: 3 = Status II leader 4 = Status 1 leader

Douma Pandur Regiment: 5 = Status II leader 6 = Status I leader

Bordurian forces (blue);

Freikorps Schtroumpf Fusiliers: 1 = Status III leader 2 = Status I leader

Smederevka Regiment: 3 = Status II leader 4 = Status 1 leader

Freikorps Schtroumpf Hussars 5 =Status II leader

Kashkaval Lancers 6 = Status I leader

As I like to give my leaders names (in true Sharp Practice fashion), the leaders are;

Syldavia;

1) Oberst Maximilian von Taschentuch

2) Leutnant Antun Rizvanac

3) Hauptmann Adrijan Zrezek

4) Feldwebel Marko Krompir

5) Oberleutnant Stanislav Pokalca

6) Feldwebel Mitja Repa

Borduria:

1) Kapetan Dimitar Cantacuzene

2) Narednik Risto Morkov

3) Porucnik Petrov Gaba

4) Narednik Lazar Kopriva

5) Kapetan Alexios Doukas

6) Porucnik Mihail Xinomavro

Escort Duty - a Napoleonic Sharp Practice AAR

Last Sunday at the club was a chance to get my 28mm Anglo-Portuguese forces on the table for a big game of Sharp Practice against Brian's French. The scenario was the fourth one in the rulebook; "Escort Duty". The aim was for one side to enter at one end of the table, escorting an important person and exit at the opposite end. The Anglo-Portuguese would be the escorting force.

The table was laid out with a river running along the length, with fields and wooded areas on both banks. The river was fordable along its entire length, counting as a minor obstacle, but also had two shallow fords, where movement was not affected. There was a water mill at one end of the table, with a patch of marshy ground close by. This offered light cover, being a tangle of tall reeds, aquatic plants etc. First, here is the table from the Anglo-Portuguese end. their entry point was to the right of the river.

The Anglo-Portuguese forces were;

Captain Nigel Molesworth (Status III) of the 61st Foot with 3 groups of 8 from a Centre Company, accompanied by Sgt Timothy Peason (Status I) and the Important Person, Coronel Vincente Salvador da Silva, a Portuguese Exploring Officer from Wellington's Staff. Cpt Molesworth is accompanied by a Drummer (musician).

Lieutenant Barnaby Thorne (Status II) and Sergeant "Waspy" Jasper Hyde (Status I), each with 1 group of 6 95th Rifles.

Tenente Alfonso Bacalhau with 2 groups of 6 Atiradores from the 3rd Battalion of Caçadores. 

Sargento Tiago Cataplana with 1 group of 6 Atiradores from the 3rd Battalion of Caçadores.

Like the 95th, the Atiradores are equipped with Baker rifles and operate as skirmishing light infantry.

This is the water mill, close to the exit point for the Anglo-Portuguese.

The rules for this scenario state that "Blue enters the table at either Point 1 or 2, rolling to see which with an equal chance of either. They place a secondary Fixed Deployment point there, as they have no Primary Deployment Point for this scenario. Roll a further D6 and half that total, rounding up. The Blue player now takes that many moves with his entire force."

So, the Anglo-Portuguese (being Blue) then got to move along the length of the river for three uninterrupted moves. I deployed all my light troops as far along the river as possible, with the Atiradores crossing over to try and seize good firing positions. Thorne pushed on to secure a position in a field of wheat. Sargento Cataplana's group of Atiradores moved to occupy a wooded hill overlooking the area from where the French were to deploy. This group would keep up long range fire on the French throughout the battle.

Meanwhile the 61st advanced along the river valley in open column. Coronel da Silva was with this body of troops.

Tenente Bacalhau got his two groups of Atiradores into a wood where they could easily prevent the French from safely venturing across the open ground towards the river.

Once my three free moves were over, we began to draw chips from the bag, as normal. The French quickly began to deploy from the opposite bank of the river to Molesworth's 61st, but close to where the Anglo-Portuguese would have to exit. I wasn't too happy to see artillery arrive.

However, the French were in range of both Tenente Bacalhau's Atiradores and Sgt Hyde's 95th, so both groups began to fire, causing a couple of casualties and some shock.

More French soon arrived, no doubt hurrying towards the sounds of battle.

Before long the French line fusiliers were firing at Hyde's Light Bobs on the edge of the marshy ground.

The 95th acted as a skirmish screen protecting the main column of the 61st, but the French fire wasn't particularly accurate at what was extreme range for muskets. Even so, the French did manage to inflict one casualty on the British Foot.

Thorne had also joined the fighting by now, adding his men to the skirmishing screen protecting the 61st and Coronel da Silva.

Undeterred, Molesworth urged his men on towards safety, unaware that a small group of French Légère Voltigeurs had crossed the river and were waiting hidden behind the water mill.

Accurate fire from the 95th and the Atiradores was pretty much pinning the French down at long range, preventing them from getting close enough to make their musket fire more effective. However, the could easily change.

And change it did. the Voltigeurs opened fire, forcing Molesworth to deploy into line, as the 61st took casualties. Lt. Thorne's 95th joined in the fire fight, as Sgt. Peason was charged with escorting Coronel da Silva to safety. Other French troops were also pushing to cross the river. Things were getting a bit tricky for the Anglo-Portuguese.

However, the French Légère skirmishers were driven off by a mixture of controlled volley fire from the 61st and accurate rifle sniping from the 95th.

A heavy pall of smoke descended on the battlefield, as the French were forced to withdraw back across the river. Peason and his group of fusiliers took Coronel da Silva across the wheat field, shielded by Molesworth's defensive line.

Elsewhere, the battle continued, with the French finally getting their gun into action, firing canister at Tenente Bacalhau's Atiradores, but Sgt, Peason and his group of 61st were able to get Coronel da Silva to safety.

So, a victory for the Anglo-Portuguese, helped very much by two factors. Firstly, the terrain favoured the Escorting side once the dice roll to see where I would enter from allowed me to get onto the opposite side to the French. Secondly, my Light Infantry were able to function exactly as intended, skirmishing and harrying the French deployment, providing a screen for the main column and then adding extra fire to drive off the French threat by the water mill.