The Campaign Commences

April 1757. Early spring in Central Europe. The usual reports came to Brown in Prague of the King of Prussia wasting his efforts in shuffling soldiers around Saxony and Silesia. Earlier he had launched a raid toward Franconia, but other than that no significant movement was noted or expected. It's far too early to find enough forage for a large army. The Empress's rich province of Bohemia was safe for now. Once the Hofkriegsrat in Vienna made its mind up, Browne would lead an army to liberate Saxony.

The quiet borderlands between Saxony and Bohemia

Hussars and Croats patrol the borders

The grass is still too brown to support many horses

Frederick has been ensconced in one of the Polish King's hunting lodges (the Polish King also being Elector of Saxony, exiled because of Frederick's invasion the previous year)

Carp ponds close to the hunting lodge.

Then the reports began to trickle in. Of Prussian incursions along a broad span of the frontier. From Saxony into north western Bohemia. And from Silesia in the north east. But this could not be an invasion surely, with such a dispersal of forces. If it was, the King deserved to be beaten.

In a matter of days Frederick's forces had penetrated the thin cordon of Austrian light troops. At Teplitz and Komatau, a few marches from Prague). And more worrying, at Podersham to the west of Prague. In the north east Schwerin crossed the Silesian border, marching through Trautenau on his way to Neu-Paka, driving a wedge between Königsegg guarding the Lusatian border, and Serbelloni at Königgrätz. Meanwhile, Prince Henry with a small force, fixed Serbelloni's attention in the Jaromirz direction.

Prussian positions after their first move. Austrian starting points are shown as the red shaded areas. The map is from the German General Staff history. Tweaked to add a few towns and blot out others. Movement is point-to-point as in the original Age of Reason Bohemian Blitzkrieg game, but to offer more variation in routes, I've gone for a slightly bigger map with more towns and roads.

Intelligence was not so easy to come by on the Prussian side either. The Austrians concentrations were where expected (Wintefeldt's spy-ring had been active over the winter). But powerful screens of cavalry had prevented close inspection of the Austrian forces. In possession of many hussars and croats, Serbelloni had kept a watchful eye on the border in the Nachod direction (less so towards Trautenau) and discovered the size and composition of Henry's weak force. He would outnumber him 2 or 3 to 1. His Milanese pride could not resist such a tempting target (he rolled a 5 when he needed a 5 or 6 on the Initiative Test). What will Henry’s reaction be?

More on the game: As mentioned before, this is based on the Age of Reason campaign game 'Bohemian Blitzkrieg' but with a few key differences. It is being played 'one-sided', i.e. a team of players are all on the Prussian side, with the Austrians controlled but the Gamesmaster (i.e. me). The map is different, as described above. Players are given free rein to allocate their forces and commanders so don't necessarily follow either historical deployments or those in Bohemian Blitzkrieg. The Prussian units available are based on the orders of battle given in Kronoskaf here. Austrian commands and units are based on the historic positions and organisation as far as I have been able to ascertain, with a little bit of tweaking to add to the 'fog'. I've developed scouting and screening rules further, to allow 'operational scouting' as well as the grand tactical scouting in Bohemian Blitzkrieg.

The players are: Jonathan Freitag from Palouse Wargaming Journal, David from the Ragged Soldier and Dave C from St Cyr on Wheels. Jon is taking on the role of Frederick (Old Freitz - sorry couldn't resist), Dave C is Schwerin and Henry, whilst Dave B fills the boots of Keith, Bevern and Winterfeldt.

Ken Burns meets Yankee Doodle Dandy

 https://deadline.com/2025/02/ken-burns-the-american-revolution-london-tv-screenings-1236281377/

This is one to look forward to going by his treatment of the US Civil War and the Vietnam War.

E.Molesey to Walton-on-Thames

Sunday was bright and sunny*, if a tad cold, and as I'd had a football day on Saturday, I readily agreed to a walk with the Margravina. Let's go by the river for a change, I said, park in Bushy Park then walk from Hampton Court to Kingston then back down to the car through Bushy Park (a nice D-shaped route). Parking proved as difficult as we expected (the World and his wife, plus kids and Labradoodle were out). So an off the cuff Plan B was to cross the river by Hampton Court Bridge and try to park along Riverbank or as close to it as we could. We ended up having to go so far down that we changed walking route and headed upstream rather than down.

* isn't that tautological?

There and Back Again: from the red dot towards top right, to the blue dot, bottom left and back. Around 6 miles by the Thames river path. Hampton Court Palace top right.

This turned out to be one of those serendipitous eventualities, for we had a wonderful walk. The number of walkers soon reduced as we got further from the starting point (until we got to the other end). It's not far and it's flat! There were many stops for photo opportunities on the way out. We earned our roast dinner at the pub by the blue dot, and hot-footed it back to the car the way we had come. Only with far fewer stops.

[Incidentally, Blogger is playing up again. At least when trying to post pictures. Messing up the order if you post more than a few at a time, then making them disappear when you try to type captions.]

Some impressive house boats along this stretch (by Ash and Taggs Islands)

Surely one of the oldest cricket clubs.

View of Hampton riverside. This is in Greater London! Incidentally, the top side of the river on the map is within Greater London, the bottom side of the map is in Surrey. The London side presented the more picturesque buildings by and large. The Surrey side is hardly any less developed, but "oh no, we couldn't possibly be included in London, we're Sarrey don't you know". Such were the vagaries of local government reorganisation in the early 60s.

The Astoria Houseboat, built for music hall impresario Fred Karno in 1913. Fred entertained Charlie Chaplin here. Moored on the Middlesex (left) bank, near Hampton. Karno had a hotel built on Taggs Island, 'the Karsino', which later became the 'Thames Riviera'. The 111 bus from Kingston to Heathrow has recorded announcements for the upcoming stops, one of which is 'Thames Riviera'.

Garrick Villa (former residence of ac-tor David Garrick). Also another bus stop! 

Garrick's temple (now the wrong side of the road from the villa

St Mary's Church, Hampton

This and the next few pics are plaques on concrete plinths that form part of a monument to the history of Hurst Park, Molesey, Surrey. Many concern sporting events in the 18th and 19th centuries which attracted crowds up to 200,000!

If you stand on the circle with the appropriate month name your shadow tells the time. Almost right.

Almost snapped a kingfisher. Dithered too long over getting the right pic: don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good! I had never seen one so close before. Weird and stunning looking creature.

This brick wall, backed and topped with an earth bank got me thinking of 'Vauban' fortifications. It was just an old reservoir

What's this?

Real defensive works (tank traps)?

The Margravina, a pretty small human, showing the scale of the thing.

Looks like a life raft from an oil rig. But small.

Sunbury Lock. To the right is a weir. The water rushing down gave a magnificent display of power. On the lock side the river was calm as a mill pond, as seen in the next pic.

Someone's lawn in Sunbury (Middlesex bank)

Civil War Earthwork

At the weekend Lincolnshire Tom forwarded some pictures from one of his FaceBook groups asking if I'd ever heard of a particular earthwork near Laceby in Lincs. The answer was that this was a complete surprise. Especially as I'd passed close by several times on the A18 on my bike as a teenager, and across the fields when out walking a few years before that. My big question is why there; why is there an isolated fort in that specific location. Puzzling. Answers on a postcard (or blog comment) please.

Would the roughly rectangular features inside be signs of an old building? A Manor House perhaps. The whole fort measures c200 x 100 yards.

For a little more context here is a map of the wider area. The built-up place to the top right is the western edge of Grimsby, which would have been a small town of 1-2000 people at the time. The only other relic of the Civil War that I know of (though I don't know for certain that it is) is a ditch and bank around an old farm building in Old Clee, Grimsby, off map to the top right.

The earthwork is circled in the bottom left. It looks too far from the junction of the roads, and from memory it hasn't a clear line of site owing to the lie of the land.

Barton Street (the A18 in this stretch) roughly follows the edge of the dip side of the escarpment formed by the Lincolnshire Wolds. Along this line are several springs which are the sources of several streams, or becks, one of which becomes the River Freshney which flowed into what was then the harbour at Grimsby.

If I'd known about this 5 1/2 years ago I'd have woven it into my narrative Lincolnshire campaign.

The Compleat Victory: Saratoga and the American Revolution

I joined David-in-Suffolk (The Ragged Soldier blog) today at the National Army Museum for another lunchtime talk. This time on the above title by Kevin Weddle, Fellow at the US Army War College and author of a book of the same name.

Unlike previous talks we attended, this one was a good 'old school' campaign history. Great scene-setting, lots of maps (complete with moving formations) and a bit of myth-busting along the way. What's not to like?!

You didn't even need to have been in that part of London to see it*, as it was also presented as a webcast. And you didn't even need to be logged on at that time as it's on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CheKXR90SAA

I've been to about 4 of these talks so far and all worth the time. Here's the NAM page on upcoming events. I'd encourage you to take a look:

https://www.nam.ac.uk/whats-on#whats-on-exhibitions-wrapper

I couldn't help but think of Steve, the Disgruntled Fusilier's post and scenario on Hubbardton a few years ago. Hubbardton was one of the actions leading up to Saratoga.

* Though it's always nice to visit the museum and good too to catch up with David. A wide-ranging chat afterwards gave me inspiration for a campaign (though SYW not AWI). Maybe more of that anon.

Holiday Reading

A belated Happy New Year to everyone1

It's been a while since I indulged in any wargaming activity. After the mad period of painting in late Autumn I've hardly done anything (apart from two great on-line games hosted by Jonathan). This has happened before and this time there has not been much in the way of Real Life activity getting in the way. There's obviously been Christmas Day/Boxing Day and one football trip*, but not much in the way of wargaming activity. This feast or famine has happened before and I'm beginning to wonder if I'm on some sort of spectrum. In mitigation, I'm in week 4 of a cough so maybe that's eroded my motivation.

* Usual disappointing result but a great day socially

On Boxing Day the eldest came round and we had a game of 300 which naturally he won. Good game and even having to look up the rules every now and again it only lasted 1 hour. The girls have somehow managed to avoid their commitment to play the game. I was thinking of using the mechanisms for a SYW campaign based around the invasion of Bohemia in 1757, but on reflection it is more suited to a higher level of strategy. You could, however, easily substitute Ancients tabletop games for the abstracted battles of the boardgames.

On to the reading matter. For my birthday before Christmas I got 3 books from the aforementioned offspring. Two down and 35% of the way through the third.

Book 1

This was a great little virtual tour of the country and inspiration to go visit some more places in the analogue world. Lots of stories I've never heard before. Ironically the day after I read some stories about Fionn mac Cumhaill**, I heard Jack McConnell (as 'Paddy Mayne') blathering on about him in S2 of Rogue Heroes***.

** Well done if you know how to pronounce that without having first heard someone say it!

*** Rollicking great fun but not history

Book 2

This is a journey through the FA Cup, and England, in the 2022-23 season, starting with the Extra Preliminary Round**** right up to the Final. 14 rounds in total. The idea was that the author went to watch the winner of each round's game in the next round, right from Tuffley in Gloucester (no me, neither) to Wembley. Along the way the author discovered something of the clubs and towns he visited. The reason it was given to me appeared in chapters 9-12 (or from round 3 to the Quarter Final). As the author puts it at the end of chapter 8, "Which brings me, with love, to Grimsby".  Even well before that, I was thoroughly enjoying the book. It's much more than a football book (the games get relatively little ink considering the erstwhile theme). It's more than a travelogue. Actually, I don't know how to describe it, other than it's bloody good and you should read it. 

On reflection, the subtitle, 'England with the FA Cup for a Compass' describes it very well.  The football is almost a way of randomly generating a tour of England with, roughly, the smaller settlements coming first and the bigger ones coming later.

**** There was an Extra Preliminary Round, a Preliminary Round, four qualifying rounds, five 'proper' rounds, a Quarter Final, a Semi Final and a Final. 

Book 3

I spotted this on my last visit to the National Army Museum*****, and sent the photo of it to the family group chat on WhatsUp. The hint was taken. Happily. This is a much more dense book than the other two. But good all the same. Looking at the chapter titles, it seems like it's going to trace an arc from the Germans being arch-baddies to being potential allies. My initial interest was driven my a desire to find out more about the world in which my late dad did his National Service. He thoroughly enjoyed his time in Germany. He missed the first couple of post-War years, though I do remember him saying "you could [still] buy anything with a packet of fags" (😮). He came home with a smattering of German, a stripe and a licence to drive lorries. Timing wise he was lucky. Too young for World War Two, he was on the reserve list at the time of Korea and had notice to go when the truce intervened.

***** The author is a historian based at the NAM

It would be remiss of me not to post a link to the wonderful song from which Dr Cowling took the book title. Do please sing along.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wveW9Tw2JKE

Post Script

Re the Occupation, I’ve just remembered the alternative definition of RASC - Run Away Someone’s Coming. My dad took this to heart once when ensconced in a bar with some Guards and a bunch of Paras turned up. He said MPs were not noted for discerning between innocent bystanders and types who loved a rumble. He’d just got outside when the window came out Western style.

Early Seasonal Haul

I'm lucky enough to have had a birthday recently. Doubly so because the Margravina acted on a 'suggestion' from yours truly. 300: Earth & Water from Nuts Publishing. I'd seen it on Prufrock's blog https://prufrockian-gleanings.blogspot.com/2024/12/300-earth-and-water.html#comment-form and thought that looks a great little, 2-player,  game based on the Greek-Persian Wars.

The Boardgame Geek page on it can be seen here: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/267058/300-earth-and-water 

It's a neat little sized board (see rule at top)

Example of the cards. Clever use of historical events to add 'chrome' to a fairly basic game mechanism

The rules look pretty straightforward, with not too many examples of 'if this, then that' type exceptions. The blurb says it takes 40-50 minutes to play. As well as playing the game as intended, it looks like a simple way of generating table top battles (battles in the game are highly abstract), or the basic rules could be used as inspiration for games set in other periods and theatres. One of the things I've been pondering for my annual New Year campaign is something based on Frederick's invasion of Bohemia in 1757. I might have a go at adapting this game to that campaign.

Surprisingly, even the girls have offered to play it over Christmas. They've never shown any interest in any of my wargames. The box art reminded them of Zeus on the Loose (also covered here on Boardgame Geek). The eldest will be round on Boxing Day and I'm sure he'd like to give it a go too.

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