Innholdsfortegnelse for WSS 130 i Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy

“Den Bayern geben wir Bier und Brot, die Schlesier schlagen wir alle tot! (We'll give the Bavarians beer and bread, but the Silesians we'll kill to a man!)” — British posters at Arras placed opposite German trenches, 1917 The Bavarians have always been a proud independent people, while the free State of Bavaria is a part of the Federal Republic of Germany. Their characterisation as being slightly conservative, pro-Catholic, peaceful, and beer-loving, masks a martial spirit and determination to defend their homeland. At first glance, Bavaria may seem a tranquil and pleasant place, and yet it has seen many battles. Some we explore in this issue. The quote above shows that their allies and opponents often recognised Bavarians as being different. Kaiser Wilhelm II had to ask the Bavarians…

As Maximus took his army to fight the Arveni and Allobroges, several oppida were besieged. The locals collected all their food and cattle and withdrew into the safety of their oppida, which were essentially fortified administrative centres. As Maximus' main objective was to defeat the warriors that had gathered at the Isère River, he left small detachments to take care of those oppida who were still resisting. This was also the case at Morginum. Maxentius, the Roman commander, had tried to take the town by storm but had failed miserably. Morginum was a substantial town fortified with a sturdy wooden wall. His legionaries attempted to dislodge the wooden poles that constituted the palisade, but to no avail. If anything, many of his men were wounded or dead, resulting in a…

The Coalition army spoke Danish, Dutch, and English, but predominantly German, just as at Waterloo. Prinz Eugen, or as he is more commonly known, Prince Eugene of Savoy, was co-commander of the army and arguably far more experienced at army-level leadership than John Churchill. We have been handed a narrative of mutual admiration, seamless cooperation, and self-deprecating magnanimity regarding Eugene, at least. The latter quality is not obvious during Churchill's previous 30 years of military service and political manoeuvring. Blenheim should diplomatically be classed as an Allied victory, and logically, a German one. Although Marlborough's campaign march south was expertly managed, the Battle of Blenheim was tactically prosaic and unimaginative. It was a battle lost by the Franco-Bavarians rather than won by the Coalition. A series of relatively blunt frontal…

Sometimes, it is a sobering thought to imagine how I might have turned out if I had access to the sum total of human knowledge - and garbage - in a device that fit in my pocket when I was a kid. The internet was a burgeoning promise of something positive rather than a juggernaut rampaging through our daily lives. But, in a way, I find that some of that promise has been fulfilled. Most of my favourite stories begin with the phrase, “When I were a lad,” so… when I were a lad, growing up in New Zealand meant you were ordinarily a little strapped for choice when it came to wargaming outlets, clubs, or sources of information. Some boxes of miniatures would come with suggestions for which paints…

For the purposes of this article, I will be using the base of a WWII British 75mm pack howitzer from Warlord Games. The artillery base provides ample space for additional detailing. While this may present some challenges, we will explore a simple approach to filling the base while achieving realistic results. Paint the miniatures beforehand. Use a sturdy material for the base, such as a PVC sheet or MDF cut to size. Use a two-component modeling putty like Milliput, spread it out, and build up an area in the front where a fence will later be added. It will hide the miniatures puddle bases. To add contrast and points of interest, add small rocks and a fence crafted from balsa wood and PVA glue while the putty is still fresh.…

Arrowstorm Battle games in medieval Britain By Daniel Mersey (Daniel's Games Emporium, 2023) PDF is $9.47 on Wargames Vault Dice: D6 Alternate Turn (IGO-UGO) Arrowstorm is a game designed for medieval warfare up to the Norman Conquest (although lists include the Hundred Years Wars so it could easily cover the Barons Wars, and so on) The system emphasises that it is a game where players are army leaders and are not involved in the lower-level detail of unit on unit combat. Units are distinguished solely by their designation – so all units with spears are Spear Units, knights are Knights, and so on. There is no division below this, so an English Knight, a French Knight, and a Scottish knight are all the same, and so on. Turns are, and…

By Peter van Dop (BelloLudi, 2023) €18.50 (rulebook and two dice) Dice: D6 and Belloludi D20 command dice Initiative-based alternate turn BelloLudi is a set of rules designed to enable players to play fast games with relatively few miniatures. The rules are straightforward and easy to pick up, even for first time gamers. This iteration of BelloLudi's rules is an expansion to allow players to fight larger battles, with players taking the roles of brigadiers and army generals, instead of smaller skirmish type games. The period covered is from the point where the pike was gradually being replaced as the primary weapon of close-order infantry, first by match-lock and then by flintlock muskets. The period covers a time when some great generals existed, Marlborough, Turenne, Charles XII, Peter the Great,…

Osprey Combat Series By Murray Dahm ISBN: 978-1472858061 (Osprey Publishing, 2024) - £15.99 One in the latest crop of books from the Osprey Combat series, this tome compares the two classic opponents in ancient warfare: the barbarian warrior and the Roman legionary. The barbarian in question is from the Marcomani tribe, as he would have appeared at the Battle of Caruntum in 170 AD. His opposite number is a legionary from the Legio XIII Gemina Martia Victrix. The book covers the organisation of both armies, and then goes on to explain the tactics and equipment used by the two sides. The text is supported with a plethora of photographs, maps, and the trademark illustrations that modellers and wargamers will find most useful and inspiring. There is a chapter on Carnuntum…

STICKING POINTS Supergluing metal to metal is often an exercise in frustration. Unless humidity levels are right, you may wonder whatever happened to the supposed fast-set nature of cyanoacrylates as they futilely hold metal parts together for minutes. Yet the same glue will stick urethane resin to itself or to metal in seconds in the same environmental conditions. The trick is to provide a small seat of a material that contains moisture and bonds quickly to superglue, such as green stuff, or more generically, epoxy putty. I use this to stick metal heads to metal bodies in 40mm. Place a small ball of greenstuff between the two parts to be joined, and squeeze everything together: separate the parts and clean off any excess material with a blade. Re-check the fit,…

With only a few exceptions, time and again European armies had met the Magyar in battle and were defeated. In 954, the Huns allied themselves with disaffected princes against the rule of King Otto I, ruler of East Francia. Otto managed to defeat the rebels, but not the Magyar, who retreated and chose to continue raiding before returning home. In late June/early July 955, a second Hungarian invasion began, numbering at least 10,000 men. Their target was in what is now Bavaria. The raiders were equipped to besiege cities and their target was Augsburg. Their leader, Harka Bulscu, planned to draw the main German field army out to defend the city, then trick them into open battle, and destroy it. They began siege works against Augsburg in late July/early August.…

Our review is primarily focused on the distinctive Bavarian Napoleonic uniform, but also includes the uniforms of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, where Bavaria sided with Austria against Prussia and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, which Bavaria joined the North German Confederation against France. When Bavaria joined the German Empire as a free state, it still retained its own independent army and uniform. The light blue uniform disappeared in 1907, and by the Great War, uniform patterns had been standardised with feldgrau. The Bavarians still maintained a blue and white cockade on their field cap, but were otherwise equipped as the standard Imperial German Army. This review looks at the different scales you can collect miniatures suitable for Bavarian armies. As always, space and time restrictions prohibit us from covering…

Regimental Wargame Scenarios in the Shenandoah Valley: 1862-1864 By Brad Butkovich (Historic Imagination LLC, 2023) £18.75 Generic scenario book for all rulesets Running along modern-day Route 81 in western Virginia is the Shenandoah Valley, containing today rich farmland, vineyards, and a picturesque road traveling southwest to northeast. In the early 1860s, this was one of the most productive breadbaskets in the Confederacy. It was this road that both sides traveled during the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865. Raids and campaigns occurred regularly as both sides dispatched forces to wrestle the Valley away from the other side. It was in this environment that Aim Low Boys!, by Brad Butkovich, introduces wargamers to ten scenarios. This is a rules neutral scenario pack with two for 1862, one in the early…

Holding Out: The German Army and Operational Command in 1917 By Tony Cowan ISBN: 978-1108830232 (Cambridge University Press, 2023) - £27.45 In this new work, Tony Cowan examines the German Army's efforts to hold back the Entente offensives in 1917. Drawing on original sources from regional archives throughout Germany and historiographical studies, Cowan has produced a groundbreaking book that offers a valuable new perspective on how German high command responded to a military situation very different from what had been anticipated in pre-war doctrine. This book offers a comprehensive examination of the operational and tactical methods that the German Army used to fight off successive Allied attacks in 1917. The focus in this volume is on divisional command and upwards, with a particular emphasis on the Western Front. While other…

But time marches on and a couple of years later the firm I was working for gave me a Ford Escort as a company car. The seats weren't leather, the ashtray was largely plastic but it had a radio-cassette player! Looking back, I should possibly have been disappointed to swap a high-powered executive motor for an entry level car, but actually I was over the moon. I could play the music I wanted to hear and was soon to discover the joys of audio books on tape. The world was my oyster with the Ford Escort 1.3L! Now, nearly thirty odd years later I'm still driving a Ford. I bought a Mondeo when they first came out and I'm still driving one now, having had several due to the boot…

Bavaria's history begins around the 3rd century BC, when Celtic tribes settled in the region between the Danube and the Alps. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Bajuwar tribe formed from the various ethnic groups living in the former provinces of Raetia and Noricum. A few centuries of independence as a tribal duchy led to the rule of the Carolingians under Charlemagne, then renewed independence, and finally, after the Battle of Lechfeld in 955, a significant expansion of Bavarian territory. Until the Middle Ages, Bavaria was ruled primarily by the Wittelsbach dynasty within the Holy Roman Empire and was repeatedly reduced in size, enlarged again, and finally split into numerous individual duchies. Bavaria shrunk until 1506 when it finally made significant territorial gains again during the Thirty Years'…

In February 1632, the Saxons attacked the Bavarian town of Bamberg with an army of German recruits. The Imperialists marched with 22,000 men under Tilly and recaptured the town in March. The force was too weak to exploit this situation, however, and retreated to Ingolstadt, which controlled a major bridge over the Danube River. This Imperialist success led Adolphus to abandon plans to invade Austria and instead moved into Bavaria in an attempt to bolster the morale of his German allies. Troops from Saxe-Weimar joined his army, totalling 37,000 men and 72 guns. At the end of March, the Swedes entered Nuremberg and were nearing the defensive line established by the Imperialists along the Lech River. The main Imperial army had entrenched and fortified the town of Rain, leaving a…

A war gamers guide to the American Revolution 1775-1782 By David C. Bonk (Helion and Company, 2024) £30.00 Generic scenario book for all rulesets This is another in the excellent “wargamer's guide” series by Helion, and on a period I have gamed on a skirmish level. I was intrigued to read this and learn more of the war that made my Country decide to leave the British Empire. The book starts by explaining why this period in particular is important, when there are so many other historical periods that could potentially be more interesting to the gamer. Explaining it has something for everyone, from the skirmish gamer to the mass battle gamer. There are some very nice colour photos in the beginning of the book. The book then goes on…