And your Objective is...

During our playtest at the beginning of February, we determined that three different objectives would be the way to go. As our gallant forces will both start the game marching south to link up with the rest of the French and British armies, we designated the road exit on the southern table edge as objective number one. The second objective will be the small chapel on the southern table, and important defensible position. The third was originally "the high ground", the ridgelines on both long edges of the table. Despite us being "gentleman wargamers", Joe and I both recognized that the vague term "high ground" could cause some concerns later on.

To rectify this problem, we decided we would create smaller objectives that were easier to capture or defend. Enter a wonderful post by Mr Awdry on his blog 28mm Victorian Warfare. In this post he built a water cart for his Colonial adventures from some great model pieces from Trent Miniatures (which is owned by Duncan Macfarane, former owner and editor of Wargames Illustrated). As Michael also points out in his post, this idea originally came from the Arcane Scenery and Models blog, where Duncan's friend (known only to me as Captain Splendid) had built one last September.

So, I sent off the request for two of the Gribeauval Limbers and a pack of Large Sherry Casks. Once they arrived I constructed the water carts as described in the two linked posts above. Unfortunately my sherry casks were suffering from a small casting issue on the ends so I went to work with a bit of putty and all was set right.

Rather than have the water carts lying around, I needed them to be mobile, trudging along with the rest of the thirsty and weary soldiers. After taking a look through the Perry Miniatures website for other ideas, I stumbled on their Oxen Teams. A quick order later and they were on there way to me from the UK. The day they arrived I quickly cleaned up the pieces, stuck them on my painting sticks, and primed them white (uncharacteristic of me, I know). A wash with Gryphonne Sepia and some quick highlights with Vallejo Pale Sand and they were ready for their patches of reddish brown.

Initially I had planned to paint one water cart in grey and the other in green (to match the artillery carriages of each army), and I was going to have the ox teams lead by a rifleman (for the British) and a voltiguer (for the French). In the end I settled for a different grey for both (with several washes on the lower edges of the new Citadel Agrax Earthshade wash), and left off any "handlers", reasoning it would mean I could then comfortably use them in any army at a later date, and realizing it would be MUCH easier to complete ; )

I hope you like them, now let's see if we Brits can't wrest that water cart on the left away from the Frenchies!

Cheers
Dave

Playtesting!

On Friday night a few of us were invited over to Jim Ferich's wargaming den (a wonderful place filled with all manner of great terrain and vast swathes of wargaming miniatures of all periods). Jim regularly hosts meetings of the DAWGs (Delaware Area War Gamers) and on this occasion Jim, myself, Joe, Brien, and Chris were joined in the gaming fun by Joe and Eric. Ly and Kyle were our patient observers.

As Brien and I have had little experience (read almost none) with Black Powder, it was a great opportunity to throw down on a 12'x6' table with the full Orders of Battle for our Salamanca game. Joe and I brought our painted models along and the remaining troops were ably supplied from Jim's ample collection (Jim pointed out that if the Brits needed a few more battalions he had 16 more on hand!).

Seeing the armies out on the tabletop was great, as it allowed us to throw around a few ideas about actual deployment of the troops and creating a few different objectives for the game. In the end we decided that the church (initially held by the 95th Rifles) at the far end of the table would be an important objective, as would the point where the road led off the table. The hills on the long edges of the table were the only other significant features, so "high ground" was determined as the third objective. We launched into the game with our three infantry brigades per side on the table and our cavalry brigades in reserve (with adjustments to the locations they could deploy depending on the turn they arrived).

The French kicked off with a great example of how varied actions can be in Black Powder. On the left, Jim's brigade advanced three moves and ousted the 95th from the church in the second turn, whilst in the center, Joe's brigade became mired in a series of poor command rolls, allowing Eric's Guards units to gain the upper hand. On the French left, Brien's troops advanced well enough, and when the cavalry entered on turn two, that end of the line looked incredibly daunting for Chris's British brigade.

We fought back and forth for three hours or so, playing through five turns and learning a LOT about the game as we went, and wrapped it up as the second of the French Brigades reached it's breaking point. Looking over the table and assessing what might have happened should the game have gone on another turn or two, we decided it was a minor British victory. To be more precise it was characterized as a "Minor victory to the British, who are not allowed to brag too much about it, and no-one is buying anyone any beers."

So, fun game, lots learned, and a few tweaks for the OOBs, deployments, and objectives suggested. A big thank you from Brien and myself to Jim, Joe, Chris, Joe, and Eric for being so patient with us as we played through the playtest of what promises to be a fun game at Adepticon!

Cheers
Dave