Rocroi, 1643 - Part I

It was time to ring the changes, as I indicated in the previous post. After what must be 5 years, I got the pike and shot toys out. Specifically these are mainly ECW models, but they will stand as proxies for the French and Spanish and their allies for a refight of Rocroi. Rocroi, as I'm sure you know, is often portrayed as a 'historic watershed' during the series of conflicts broadly known as the Thirty Years War. Actually this was really part of the longer term rivalry between France and Spain, and it is said that this battle marked the passing of the "Top European Nation" crown from Spain to France. "The death of the tercios". I'm sure there's been revisionist historiography saying this wasn't the case, and that there's been revisionism of the revisionist view. There always seems to be. Not really my area. But I'm not going to let that stop me get the toys out and pretend that they are Spanish and French - at least they have similar hats and weapons. Just don't look at the flags.

I used the usual Wiki page,  but looking now, I wish I'd looked at the French and Spanish versions too. The English version has the Spanish outnumbering the French in both horse and foot. The French version agrees, but the Spanish version has the French with less foot but more horse. All three use the same battle map (oddly). Here are the links for comparison:

Battle of Rocroi 

Bataille de Rocroi 

Batalla de Rocroi 

Another handy source is Battlefield Travels https://battlefieldtravels.com/battle-of-rocroi/ which superimposes the respective armies onto a modern map of the area. It also has some lovely photos of the fortifications of the town of Rocroi (re-built by Vauban later in the 17th century) and a still from the final scene of the film Alatriste. There's a link in the article to a YouTube clip from the film which I urge you to watch - in fact watch the whole movie if you can find it.

The rules I am using are In Deo Veritas. Units are 'brigades' of 600ish cavalry and 1200ish infantry, but because of issues with the movement rate and my basing that I covered in an earlier post, I upped these to c.800 and c.1600 respectively. I understand that by this time the Spanish tercios were closer to the 1500 mark than the 3000 of earlier decades. Using the English Wiki numbers I landed on the following numbers of units:

	Spanish & Allies	French
Horse	10	9
Foot	11	10

I also gave them both a couple of stands of field artillery.  I designated the 3 Spanish foot brigades as veteran, All the rest were trained. To even things up a little I classed one French cavalry brigade as Cuirassier which gives them an extra saving die. All the rest I classed as 'Light' cavalry (or 'harquebusiers' in the English parlance of the day). I haven't looked into this very deeply, so I quite accept that I may be wrong and more of both sides should be Cuirassiers.

Models are mostly from the Pendraken 10mm ECW range, with a few from their 'League of Augsburg' range (I like the hats and poses) plus a few from Irregular. The table, by the way is 1800 x 1000mm. I should probably have used the boards to take it up to 1220 deep given the movement rates but I simply couldn't be bothered to lift them in from the store.

So without further ado here are the opening moves told in pictures with captions.

Set-up. French to the right. Trees just for the look of the thing. Stream is classed as a linear obstacle - movement stops for a turn on reaching it before troops can cross.

The French left. To keep things simple for myself, the French cav are in helmets and the Spanish are in floppy hats.

View from the Spanish right.

'Plan' view. The infantry units at the top with the deeper bases are the Spanish as opposed to all the Allies, (Germans mostly) with normal depth bases. This is purely to help me identify them on the table.

From behind the Spanish right. Rocroi with is (unpainted!) walls.

Turn 1: Cavalry clash on both wings. Cavalry moves at 18 inches so you are into the action quickly. An inch by the way is 40 yards. A truly grand tactical move!

Turn 2: On the French right not much has happened in the cavalry melee. Most hits inflicted have been saved. Just one hit remains on one Spanish unit. There are 4 brigades on each side here. Another Spanish brigade is edging round, just visible bottom right. I have 4 cavalry bases, each 30x30mm, plus a command stand per unit.

Turn 2: On the French left a similar picture has emerged as on the right.

Turn 3: The French infantry has reached the stream and will be held up for a turn. The cards are used to determined the order of movement. 

Also Turn 3: French to the left of the yellow line. Two Spanish units have suffered two unsaved losses. Three and they rout. I made a mistake with both sides in having the second lines too close to the first. This meant that on a 'push back' (4 inches) if the first line went through the second, both took another hit.

Turn 3: French left. The French have pushed back one Spanish brigade (which disorder their supports). However, overall the French have suffered more hits (4 round bases to 2 in the picture)

Turn 4: French right. Far right, a French unit has charged into the Spanish unit coming round the flank and inflicted 1 hit. In the centre the French unit has been hit twice but has inflicted a third unsaved hit on the Spanish and they will rout, through the unit behind taking them with them. It's not looking good for the Spanish unit on the left of the picture either.

Turn 4: French left. All the French units on this wing have suffered one or two hits. It's in the balance.......

Turn 4: French left. ....but les messieurs get lucky and the Spanish unit suffers another unsaved hit and routs, through the unit behind (inflicted a hit on them as they pass through). Rout moves are 27". This took all three routed units off the board, but I left them on the edge as a reminder.

Turn 4: Centre. French behind the yellow line. The line bows because the units there are advancing and to indicate this the command stands are in front. Two of the 3 veteran Spanish brigades and one allied brigade have charged the French, pushing one French brigade back (left of picture). The French second line are also delayed by the stream.

Turn 4: Overview of the French left. Two Spanish units have routed off.

As a result of the routs, the Spanish have to take a wing morale test. It fails, so moves down a step (indicated by a round base placed by the wing commander. This means they are unable to advance. And are a step closer to routing.

On the French left, the Spanish cavalry wing here has also taken and failed a wing morale test.

I had to leave it here on Monday and haven't had a chance to finish the game yet. After four turns the French have got the upper hand on the wings, having removed the Spanish advantage in numbers and dented Spanish morale. In the centre, the picture is slightly better for the Spanish. Given the number of losses on the French side, it is not all over for the Spanish on the wings. It will probably be best for the French to not tempt fate and to try to rally off hits before charging in again on the left.

Reading Resources Replenished

Greetings from a very dry south eastern England. We're now officially on a hose-pipe ban, but I'm grateful it could be much worse like France and Spain.

In an idle moment recently I had a look at the Paul Meekins website. A few clicks and I'd found that I'd ordered a stack of books. Too easy to do. I even deleted some from the 'basket' before I paid, just to show a bit of 'self-discipline'.

They arrived Friday, promptly and very well packaged. Here they are.

Well padded with bubble wrap and the box was all taped up - took some undoing and a lot of feeling off so I could put the box in the recycling. 

First edition. I already have this. In both first and second editions. But my original from the 1970s had got mouldy when stored in a damp garage, and it was well worn with reading and had dabs of Humbrol paint in the excellent appendix showing every regiment's uniform colours.

Another second copy. I think I lost my original one. This could tempt me into another 18th century sub-period if I'm not careful.

I'm already 1/4 of the way through this. A second volume on this battle, although it goes into a lot more detail on the preceding campaign-  "it does exactly what it says on the tin". I've read two of Mr Cooke's previous ECW works on Yorkshire sieges and Yorkshire battles. Good stuff.

Already devoured this one. Lots and lots of inspiration here! I love these Stuart Press booklets.

Another booklet sized publication. I shall look forward to reading this.

I'm pretty close to actually getting a game on the table. I have a few options in mind. I just need to boil down the numbers into something workable. The weather has inspired me to try something in a different setting. Until then, adios.

Wanders around the Metropolis

It's been a quiet month on the blogging front. Partly because of the recent hostilities in North America, sorry, I mean the World Cup. But with Argentina's antics, including during and after the final, the gap between sport and violence was very thin at times.

Reading

No games or painting or modelling in the Schloß, but I have been reading. Firstly, Reed Browning's The War of the Austrian Succession, leant to me by Neil Patterson. I enjoyed it more than I expected (Neil didn't oversell the book!). A very good introduction to the subject. Then I picked up Henry Hyde's Wargaming Campaigns, which I'm about 3/4 of the way through. It contains a lot of useful information, but I feel that a bit of pruning would help - if for no other reason than it would make it less of a work out to hold. So far I haven't found a lot that I will use in my campaigns. The suggestions tend to be admin heavy. There's a lot on the process rather than concentrating on the effects. But that's probably because the author is into creating a rich narrative. One thing I will probably do is introduce more weather effects in my campaigns.

Hounslow Heath

Back in the real world I've been on a few walks. At the end of June Lincolnshire Tom and I went on a combined walk with the Battlefields Trust and Hounslow Local History Society. The subject was the Military and Aviation History of Hounslow Heath. This was very enjoyable and informative.

Not much physical evidence of the military history survives. Barrack Road is one vestigial sign. There are old barrack buildings remaining but the site is boarded off for re-development.

Random shot of the heath. Not far from here is the River Crane Walk and that goes past an old Shot Tower. Or at least that's what it is labelled as. The guide said recent historiography has cast doubt on its purpose.

Seen on the Hounslow walk. Can't remember what variety of moth/butterfly these will turn into.

On the way home one evening in June I noticed that mountains had sprung up in the direction of Kingston-upon-Thames. They were gone not long after.

The Odyssey

Saturday just gone, saw the Margravina and I venture into London to see the Odyssey. We could have seen it at a local cinema but I fancied a wander around some of my old stomping grounds so we went to the Curzon* at the Brunswick Centre. The film was good, overall, but a couple of things niggled. One was that the makers couldn't resist adding bits to the story. It's only been around 3,000 years so it obviously needs a bit of re-writing to help it survive. I don't think I'm spoiling the plot if I mention them. There was a whole new piece about young boy who volunteered to go to the war. That added time, so out went one of the key points in Odysseus' journey to the Underworld - his talk with Achilles. I get having to cut things to fit into the budget, but not when they add a load of new things in not in the story. There was another change too, concerning Calypso. I had a similar reaction to the Hobbit.

* The Renoir, as was.

There was also a tendency to treat the audience as a bit dense and forgetful. Something about the Law of Zeus (I forget exactly, it only got mentioned in every other scene). I also, pedantically pointed out to the M that at a couple of points, the crew were rowing wearing their helmets and body armour (not in a war scene). 

On the positive side, there were a couple of decent innovations. One concerned rumours of the Sea Peoples. The other was the way Circe turned Odysseus' crew into pigs.  Overall, I would recommend seeing the film.

I enjoyed our foray into that area of London. We had to walk from Farringdon Road near the old Mount Pleasant Post Office site because the buses were on diversion. Like a lot of London this area has been gentrified. Back in the 90s I'd ventured over that way a few times and it was a bit grimy. It's still not pristine in parts but it feels very different. One thing that helps is the lack of diesel vehicles trundling around, as well as the redevelopment work. We wandered over to the cinema past a few of my old stomping grounds (code for pub visits) and it rekindled the desire to go back again. One thing I'd like to visit, and haven't before is the Foundling Museum off Coram's Fields. I was able to point out my old office (some so-and-so had left the window open!)

Like the Mount Pleasant area, the Brunswick Centre has become somewhat gentrified since I was last in the area. The site underwent a major refurbishment a few years ago. And there's now even a Waitrose! Something that was definitely not likely in the 90s. I wonder if the old 70s council flats are still social housing or if there's been 'social cleansing' too.  On the positive side, the place looked a lot more vibrant.

The M suggested walking back down to Waterloo rather than catching the bus back, so we had a pleasant stroll down past Queen Square, Boswell Street, Red Lion Square, Lincolns Inn, down between the LSE buildings, the Aldwich, Strand, Embankment and Waterloo Bridge.

                                    Plaque at Red Lion Square

One of the buildings at the LSE. Romans invented shopping trolleys?

 

St Mary le Strand. Now 150 yards from the river, before the Embankment was built in the 19th century, the Strand was the beach front of the Thames. Hence the name.

The Curiosity Cabinet on the Strand. Part of Kings College London (a second university just metres from LSE).

The defunct Aldwich tube station on Surrey Street. It is now part of the London transport Museum. Also on the to-do list.

St Paul's Cathedral from Waterloo Bridge.

The view west from Waterloo bridge

Looking back east from the bridge.

The City

Overall a grand afternoon out and 12,500 steps logged.

Fort Processes

So you might be finking that after buying those Brigade Models fortress pieces I would crack on and paint them up. That would be too easy for me. You might have noticed a trend on this blog for me to agonise/navel gaze or indulge a propensity for analysis paralysis.

The latest bout of agonising arose when I started thinking about the practicalities of working on the bought pieces.  It isn't as simple as cleaning them up and painting them. How should I make higher parapets? I could use a strip of balsa wood or something similar. For that to work I would need to cut off the existing parapet and cut the wood at the appropriate angles - easy for some but I am a bit cack-handed. Green stuff would work - I wouldn't need to cut off the existing parapet but it won't be as neat.  Doable options but it involves quite a lot of work. I asked myself would that work be worth the effort?

To help me answer that I thought I'd set-out the pros and cons of the commercial versus the totally scratch built options.  When I started doing that I realised there were more things that I'd need (want?) to do with the commercial option.

Commercial Option
Pros	Cons
No drawing	Angles etc not quite ‘right’
No cutting	Pieces move on the table
Flexibly layout	Have to build up parapets - how?
	Difficulty of modelling glacis/covered way without fixed enceinte
	Have to build up terreplein for enceinte to accommodate bases

Homemade Option
Pros	Cons
Dimensions ‘right’	Drawing
Glacis/covered way modelled	Cutting
Individual pieces won’t move in the table	Uncertain properties of materials*
The satisfaction of the challenge.	Have to cut and stick paper walls
	Inflexible

* i.e. will the XPS board cut up bobbly like the expol? I actually tested it and it doesn't, so strike that from the list of cons! It cuts nice and neatly and you can create nice sharp angles.

Overall there is more work with the scracthbuild/homemade option.  There is no doubt, but the commercial option comes with a fair amount of work too. More even than I anticipated before I started making the above lists. When it's all done the commercial option, with several separate pieces, is much more flexible. This comes with two challenges. First, how would I stop pieces sliding around on the table? Remember these are TINY pieces.  If I stuck them on to a board then I lose the flexibility. If I use magnetic paper, that's more work.

The bigger issue, I think, with the commercial option is the glacis/covered way/ditch ('GCD' for convenience). With a flexible layout cutting pieces for a GCD that is equally flexible multiplies the work and adds to the problem of small pieces moving around the table.

The way I'm feeling right now is I prefer the homemade option. I made the first step by re-drawing the template on paper. At least I've done the main enceinte, with a few ravelins sketched in and a trial sketch for the GCD. Of course I didn't make a copy of the original template!

Something to sleep on. And any comments/suggestions would be very welcome. Of course if I do the homemade option, I'll have a load of fortress pieces spare.

Update

After a number of comments I thought I'd do an update to show the issue with the commercial model. I understand the principle of '1-scale down'. That's why I bought a 2mm scale fortress. I intend to use the fortress with 6mm figures directly on and in it. The parapet is not even knee high to the 6mm figures. That's without a base to support the figures. It's not the overall height of the model fortress that is the issue, it's just the parapet.

There's also a lack of depth on the curtain wall if I'm to have any base for the toy soldiers.

Give them a Broadside

I'm afraid this won't be a picture extravaganza. I looked at the pictures I took and found them wanting. Pop over to Richard's blog for that, or feast your eyes on Big Lee's post on the game designed by him and Ray and hosted on by Postie's Rejects.

I don't think I've seen a war memorial which mentions the Korean War before.

This is more of a personal impression of the show put on in Gillingham by the Milton Hundreds Wargames Club. The show came highly recommended by many South East based bloggers so I was determined to make my first visit. I've been to Gillingham several times - I usually turn east out of the station, but this time I headed west. I was up and out of the house early (for me) and arrived in Gillingham not long after 10:00 and walked the 1/2 mile or so to the Medway Park Sports Centre. I had time for a quick spin round the hall, stopping off to chat to Lee at the Posties Rejects table (deservedly voted Best in Show, against some tough opposition).

Postie's Rejects game of the crossing of the Berezina 1812. A Dunelm sofa throw provided the cloth.

The whole table was fabulous and testament to their hard work. Sorry this is a bit out of focus. The broken ice on the river was great (pieces of perspex, 'sanded' to give that opaque look).

Last port of call on my initial tour of the hall was Brigade Models . They had the 2mm 'Vauban' fortress models I was interested in and described in my previous post as Plan C. To no surprise the parapets were low compared to a 6mm figure, but were otherwise perfect for my purposes. As luck would have it, they had everything that I had for my plan so I made the purchase there and then.

My acquisitions set out on another Dunelm throw! Castell de San Antonio to be used as a citadel. 

More of Brigade's products painted up and on display. I like the fact they had a model of Chatham Anchor Wharf given the proximity to where Broadside was held.

Shortly after I bumped into David-in-Suffolk and spent the rest of the day wandering around the show and chatting to various people. I had originally thought that I would spend a couple of hours at the Royal Engineers Museum next to the park, but it's a good indication of the quality of Broadside and the company that I stayed there until well after 3PM. Short breaks outside for coffee and lunch excepted.

This was another star of the show: Milton Hundreds Wargames Club's Sword Beach. Complete with sand from the actual beach!

Lots of lovely detail like this DD Sherman

I loved these LSTs(?) This one with self-propelled guns - sorry I don't know the name of them. Priests?

Another landing craft with Hobart's Funnies. Brilliant model showing some brilliant innovations.

As well as Lee and Ray, we bumped into Richard (also of Postie's Rejects) and had a nice chat. It was great to meet in person and put a face to the name. As an extra bonus, Richard revealed that the Brigade Models can be readily cut when I said that the curtain walls were just slightly too long for my fortress plan!

Another star feature was Hailsham Wargames Club's Malplaquet, 1709. All Les Higgins exquisite 20mm figures.

It reminded me of Tony "Prometheus in Aspic'''s preference for these models

More Malplaquet! The terrain for this was fabulous.

And yet more!

Another game I was keen to see. The Battle of Maidstone, 1648, by Canterbury and Littlebourne Wargame's Club. Nice terrain. And achievable for the average gamer. I liked the explanation of the scenario - the New Model Army had to achieve a win in a restricted number of moves to win the game. Without this constraint it would be too easy for the NMA player to win, so this made it a more competitive game. The gamers at this table were all young, which is nice to see.

Another lovely looking game was this example from the '45 Jacobite Rebellion. Played with Pendraken figures. Lovely castle centre right. And nice to see use of a baggage train. I couldn't help thinking that the choice of soft drink (top left) was appropriate for this. Irn Bru.

Another personal favourite, the Society of Ancients Gaugamela.

The SOA were using Impetus rules

There were many other great looking games and friendly hosts including the team who put on a pre-Dreadnought battleship game (sorry I didn't remember the club name or take any pictures). I will definitely go again next year. And I'd highly recommend Broadside to anyone, especially in the SE of England.

My train was due at 16:31 so I strolled back up through town and killed a bit of time in a pub that I haven't visited before. I almost turned around when I heard the noise inside - the party had well and truly started early! Actually it was relaxing and I enjoyed the choice of music. Can't go wrong with Boney M.

I was cream crackered by the time I got home and had a quick snooze before a very pleasant barbecue in the garden with the family and the Youngest-of-the-Youngest's beau, who was down from Yarkshire.

So, thanks for all the show participants for putting all the effort in and their friendliness, and to the Milton Hundreds club for putting on the show. And thanks to David for your company again.