The next Snappy Nappy Campaign in a Day event will be held on Saturday, October 18, at The Portal Game store in Manchester, CT, from 10 AM until 5 PM.  Mike Seibert will once again be the GM for this event, which will involve 14 tables, more than 20 players, and hundreds of 25 mm wargames figures. As in the past, the rules will be Snappy Nappy by Russ Lockwood. 

We can still accommodate a few more players, so if anyone wishes to join in, please let me know ASAP!

Wellingtons Offensive in Spain, June-July 1813

And so the campaign in June 1813 begins.  FORWARD MARCH !

 

 

Frances’s situation- June 1813

 

5 years of fighting in Spain has taken its toll on the French forces. In 1812 King Joseph and Marshall Soult had forced Wellington out of Madrid but the king was finding it increasingly difficult to control what remained of his realm. Wellington’s success has encouraged the Spanish guerrillas who are now so active that even with four divisions general Clausell was fully occupied with trying to keep open the route between Madrid and the Pyrenees

 

 Jourdan, the chief of staff, saw that the South and the northwest of Spain would have to be abandoned, whatever the Emperor might wish, there were not troops available to control all of it. The vital area was Old Castille and Aragon: the route to the Pyrenees, Bayonne and Paris, with the ports of Santander and San Sebastian.  In early 1813 The British have retaken Madrid and driven the French back beyond Burgos.  Worse, Napoleon has taken 25,000 troops out of Spain to defend Germany.  This leaves them about 68,000 men.  Joseph has pulled back to what he hopes is a smaller perimeter to defend in the northern part of Spain.  But he must maintain the line on the River Ebro.  Failing to do so will embolden all of Napoleons enemies to join the Anti French Coalition and doom the Empire.

 

 

 

Britain’s Situation

 

Wellingtons campaign of 1813 saw his combined British, Portuguese & Spanish army of 79,000 strike northward towards Burgos without allowing Joseph’s French armies to concentrate.  Wellington’s forces marched hard to cut them off from the road to France.  He had spent the winter reorganizing and reinforcing his forces for the purpose to attack the French and push them beyond the Pyrenees mountains.

 

Spain’s Situation

 

The Spanish have longed to remove the yoke of repression of the French occupation.   The people are rising up against the invader, having been encouraged from the British success in the prior year (1812).

 

 

 

Objectives

 

Napoleon needs his Marshals in Spain to repel the British Army approaching the frontier.  Taking Burgos would set the British back, as this traces supply all the way to Portugal.  He also needs to avoid a major defeat, as that likely would persuade Austria to join the coalition forces in Germany.   The British need take the major cities & to push the French out of Spain and capture the main road to Bayonne, which is Frances main source of supply.

 As is usual, the stats for Q2 of 2025are more than 2 months late due to my time being occupied by Historicon and the subsequent write ups!

Expenses:

“Me thinks I hear bagpipes!” exclaims the Allied commander. Hearted by dust clouds signaling the arrival of his reinforcements, he decides to hold his ground covering the approach to Quasi Bras. A Nassau light battalion does little damage firring at a French infantry assault. 

With the objective in sight, the French press the advance!

Shooting by the 2 Nassau Light infantry units is more effective!

If at first you don’t succeed… this time the French Assault is successful, 

2 Highland units use Maneuver orders to advance 45 degrees and change formation. 

French shooting takes its toll on the Dutch Belgium line before Quasi-Bras!

Turn 11 – this time the dice gods favor the Allies, and not a moment too soon! Orders are issued. 

Highlanders advance on Quasi Bras, and the Dutch Belgian line occupies the crossroads. 

Limited French moves. 

Results of the  Allied shooting. 

French shooting is a bit less effective. 

French defenders are eliminated, and the Highlanders press forwards. !

The Dutch-Belgians at Quasi Bras are finally eliminated. 4 Allied units remain to 7 French, but again, most of the French have taken significant losses. In addition to the scenario victory conditions (hold Quatre Bras at the end of Turn 15),  I also decided that if an army reached 75% of it units lost (i.e. only 2 remaining), they would have to call off the battle and concede.  

Some decent French shooting… 

Allies go first and prepare for an all out attack on Quasi-Bras on Turn 15, plus setting up an impressive firing line. 

One hit is rallied off; the French lacked initiative to do anything with the distant (and very weak – 1 hit remaining) infantry unit near the woods. Their hold on Quasi Bras looks tenuous at best. 

Highland musketry scores 5 hits on 6 dice total!

French (simultaneous) return fire is very accurate as well, but the unit has reached its limit for hits and is removed!

Situation at the end of Turn 14 – both armies have but 3 units remaining, and Quasi-Bras is up for grabs!

Turn 15 (last turn): Allies come up with big win on initiative! There is little point on wasting an order on the distant, feeble 3rd French unit. 

British fire eliminates the Lanciers. 

French fire to moderate effect on the occupiers of Quai Bras, but would have needed 4 hits on 4 dice to eliminate them.

The Allies have won… barely. They hold Quasi Braas, and the French have only 2 units remaining and are thus at their break point. A near run thing indeed!

 At my request, my friend Mark T. sent me a bunch of his Historicon pictures; most of these are games he ran or played in himself. 

Mark played in this game Wednesday night, Crossing the Berezina, East Bank, November1812, using Carnage and Glory computer moderated rules. GM Steven Unbrel. “Marshall Victor and a motley Corps of Germans, Poles and a few French must hold off Wittgenstein’s Russians long enough for the stragglers of the Grand Armee to cross the bridges and continue the retreat.” 

I remember playing Berezina game at Historicon some 20 years ago with Andy Finkel from the UK running it, using their Casquet rules – a mash up of Piquet and Shako!

Brazen Chariots Wednesday night, GM Adam Wine. Battle of Tafaraoui Airfield:

“Nov. 7, 1942, Operation Torch the invasion of French North Africa. The U.S. 1st Armored Regiment, lands on the beaches near Oran and quickly capture the town of Ste. Barbe-du-Tletat. The M3 light tanks are advancing on Tafaraoui Airfield and the French tanks roll forward to stop them.”

Battle of Raszyn, 19 April 1809, Carnage and Glory Computer moderated rules. GM Peter Burke. 

“Archduke Ferdinand and his VII Corps must capture Warsaw. Standing in their way on the road to the city is General Poniatowski and his scratch Corps of Poles and Saxons.” We’ve run Raszyn before (it’s one of the 20+ scenarios in my 1809 Scenario book for Field of Battle) – an interesting and challenging scenario for both sides!

This is Kambula, Zulu Kingdom, March 29th, 1879. GM Gregory Starace, Carnage and Glory (They do fantastic looking tables, don’t they?  “Just a day after the disaster at Hlobane mountain, Wood’s No 4 “Left Flank” Column is ready for the main Zulu impi to turn to his direction. Zulus are spotted to the north. Are they passing by, does Wood wait for the attack or provoke a move, can Ntshingwayo still orchestrate a cohesive attack?”

 Mark is a big fan but I can’t say that I’m much attracted to a computer moderated tabletop game myself, but they ran each of their games multiple times and had no trouble filling the spots, so not everyone agrees with me. So what else is new?  🙂

Dabrowa Tarnowska 1662 Poles vs. Russians and Cossacks. Carnage and Glory again, GM David Bonk. “Russian and Cossack forces attempt to capture the village of Dabrowa Tarnowska in 1662.”

Talk about Tiny Desk…

WW2 Skirmish game

Some of the layout for this year’s Samurai Spectacular! 

Operation Jupiter..

60 mm WW2. 

Falkirk, 22 July 1298, Carnage and Glory again. GM Jeffrey Ball.  “After the shocking defeat of the English at Stirling Bridge, King Edward amasses a huge army to defeat the Scottish general William Wallace. The English knights are hungry for revenge as the army advances on the Scots who are arrayed and waiting on a hill above a bog.”

Mark played in this game himself. 

He didn’t divulge for which side, and or if he won!

Star Trek, based on the classic  TOS episode, “The Doomsday Machine”.  GM Phil Lewis, Starmada rules.  Commodore, this is Star Fleet HQ… Sensors picked up an energy signature similar to a so called “Doomsday Machine” reported by Enterprise decades ago. The Romulans have been very active in this sector recently. You are ordered to assemble a task force and investigate.

15 mm at The Alamo

Iwo Jima

Dark Ages terrain set up

February made me Shiver…

Battle of Bouvines in 1214. Run by Mark himself on Friday AM with Lion Rampant Rules (he ran Crecy with the same rules Thursday).  “King John seeks to retake land in France with the aid of Flanders and the Holy Roman Empire. King Philippe II of France moves his army to a bridge at Bouvines, and Otto IV’s allied forces catch up with the French who turn to face them.”

Mark provides he following description: This photo is after the first 2 turns from my Battle of Bouvines game.  The French (closest in the photo) have 54 points of troops, which includes left, center, and right, each having a unit of elite cavalry, heavy cavalry, heavy infantry, and crossbows.  The left command starts with their heavy cavalry back protecting the bridge over the river near Bouvines, while all the rest of the French units are on the front or second line.

The Allies (Germans with English and Flanders allies) start on or slightly to the left of the low rising ground above (the latter being on the Allies right flank).  They have 58 points, and are charged with attempting to take the bridge which is the French’s route to their homeland. Each of the 3 Allied commands have different selection of units. The left flank and center both have elite and heavy cavalry with a unit of crossbowmen, while the left has 1 heavy inf, and the center have 2. On the right flank are 2 heavy cavalry instead of 1, 1 heavy inf, and they have 1 expert archer unit instead of elite cavalry. In the photo, the two heavy cavalry are pushing to out flank the French.

The following photos are at the end of each of the successive turns for the Bouvines scenario.

The Allies right flank heavy cavalry units continue there progress towards turning the French left flank and heading for Bouvines with its bridge. Meanwhile, the main fight continues in the center, and in the French right flank too.

This photo is at the end.  The Allies are contending for the bridge, and the number of units gone on both sides has started to show on the rest of the table.  However, the French probably don’t have enough to go much further at this stage of the game.

Terrain set up for the Battle of Bunker (Breed’s) Hill; Live Free or Die rules.  GM  Thomas Uhl. 

“On the evening before the battle, Col. William Prescott and 1000 militiamen quietly ascended the heights of Breeds Hill and began fortifying the position. Despite the secrecy, the unmistakable sound of digging could be heard. General Gage determined to strike the Rebel entrenchments in the morning.”

Oak Grove, June 25 1862. Carnage and Glory, GM David Bonk. “On the morning of June 25, 1862 Union forces under the command of Brigadier General Hooker advance through the White Oak swamp in an attempt to capture Old Tavern.” Mark played in this one; photos are from behind his command. 

 Mark’s Union brigade begins making its slow way over the deep and mucky stream.

Make for the Cornfield!

Having gotten beyond the thick forest and watery mess, the brigade begins deploying in preparation for eventual contact with the Confederates.

Contact has been made, firing begun, some retreating has occurred too.

8 of Mark’s 40mm Colonial AWI figures receiving some last minute basing.  The figures are originally Trident Designs, now being sold by Triguard Miniatures.  They were used for his AWI Concord Bridge North scenario. This game was played using the rules called Light Bobs which is a battalion level game where each unit is a company. Although it can be scaled up for big battle play, and these rules are currently under revision for printing a 2nd edition.

Some of Light Bobs interesting features include the idea that during the AWI, at a company level movement into a different formation was performed off of the company commander, and so the individual bases just move into position from the base to their new location.  Another feature is a concept of “return fire”, and this represents a companies ability to rapidly respond to being fired upon in a firing fight.

This is the initial setup where the colonials have reached the bridge, and begun to fan out for an ability to cover both sides of the crossing.  Meanwhile, the 4th, 10th, and 43rd British light infantry companies are lined up back to back in their initial deployment, and 2 companies of grenadiers are in the upper right moving in the direction of the bridge to provide reinforcement.

This photo is from Turn 3, which is after initial firing and positioning.  The colonials have started their attempt to cross the bridge, and the British have begun giving some ground while they attempt to slow the colonials down.

The 3rd photo is after Turn 6 where the British light infantry have left the field in their entirety, and only the grenadiers remain with Smith surveying the scene of colonials in various states of ability, while deciding to return to Concord for gathering his forces for the long, and what will turn out to be a hazardous, march back to Boston. Mark notes that the bridge for this scenario, although repaired and refurbished, is one that he built with his father decades ago!

These next pictures from “Coton Hall”, a fictional fight set in the English Civil War using Carnage & Glory, and by the rules author, Nigel Marsh.   The set up for the Parliamentarians, the cavalry force at the bottom was my command for the game.

The starting positions for the Royalists, the cavalry position being where the forces are opposing my force.

The placard for the game with map and other details.

 After Turn 2 … the Parliamentarians have pushed forwards across the entirety of there front in an effort to take the bridge and hopefully even Coton Hall in the rear of the Royalist line. Note the cavalry unit behind the Parliamentarians in the lower right that has been moving from the left flank to reach the far right flank.

Positions at end of game … the Royalist cavalry attack on left has met with some success, yet it comes too late as the Parliamentarians have used their infantry and artillery in such a way that the center and other flank are collapsing. The traveling cavalry unit has now made it all the way to where the end of the green and white measuring stick is pointing.

Battle at Hartebeestmund (German South West Africa, 1905). GM Roy Jones, Modified The Sword and the Flame rules. “It’s a trap! Nama riflemen in the heights of Hartebeestmund have been waiting for the Germans all along. And now the Germans are trapped between the hills and the river. It’s German Mausers, machine guns, and cannon against concealed Nama rifles and Nama guile, in a brutal fight at Hartebeestmund!” Mark played in this one, too!  Above: The Germans have been crossing the rough ground although Turn 1 starts when they’ve hit the edge if the steep hills, and the Namas have begun firing from concealed positions above.

The Germans attempt to get a foot hold in the center, although begin taking heavy casualties, and some have started to retreat.

The Germans have been significantly repulsed, yet they begin to rally for an additional effort soon.

The Germans make their second attempt at the hills, but it is not successful.

And then to make the matter worse, the Namas launch their attack on the baggage train, machine guns, and artillery pieces, after storming out of the heavy and high brush.  The end of the fight is reached.

All the awards at Historicon 2025, part1

and part 2! Congratulations all; well deserved!