Wars of the Roses: Fitzalan Billmen

 

After a brief hiatus, we return to  more soldiers for The Wars of the Roses. 

This unit wears the Gules and Argent livery of William Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel.

Being troops of their Lord's Retinue, they are better armed and equipped than the earlier units of Levy. 

There's a lot more armor in evidence on these stout fellows, once again form Old Glory. 

Perhaps that's the Earl himself, inspiring his men? 

Fitzalan's contingent fought on the Yorkist side at the Battles of 1st and 2nd St. Albans, and at Towton. 

Down Styphon! - The saga of Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen concludes.

As regular readers will know, I am a huge fan of H bean Piper's 1966 novel, Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen. If you've never read it, find a copy somewhere, and read it, NOW!  It is irresistible stuff for a wargamer; I've put several Lord Kalvan battles on the table over the years.  Piper's other books, especially those related to "Little Fuzzy", are darned good too, but not likely to inspire wargamers to tabletop actions.  The copyright having expired, Lord Kalvan isnow  available as a free download (since 2016) from a number of sites. 

Sadly, Piper died by suicide not long after completing it, and before its publication, despondent about the abysmal situation of his finances; truly a great loss, as his works were just becoming popular and appreciated. His freind and fellow writer, John Carr, has undertaken to continue the Kalvan saga over the course of  7 novels, Down Styphon being the conclusion of the series. 

Map of the relevant portions of "Otherwhen". 

Without giving too much of the plot away, this book sees Kalvan, Rylla and company finally end the awful Gunpowder Theocracy of  Styphon's House, and the isolation of the time line from the Paratimers, thus ending our window on the saga of Kalvan and his world. I enjoyed it a lot, although pace of events seemed a bit rushed to me. Still we get sieges, naval battles, land actions and, as always, lots of intrigue; what's not to like? The hardcover book, like it's predecessors, is gorgeous but pricey; all of the books in the series are now available for digital download at a much more reasonable cost from John Carr's publishing company. Recommended! 

Scotts Covenanter Foot #3 - John Lindsay of Edzell

 

This latest addition to the forces of the Covenanters is this  regiment, which was raised in Angus and Dundee. 

The flag is one of many on the Dux Humunculorum blog (part 2 of the Covenanter flags doesn't have the label, so has to be searched for separately). The Moto on the saltire reads "Reviresco"; "I flourish again", with the palm tree, itself a symbol of renewal. 

The regiment had a strength of roughly 400 men, according to the BCW Regimental Wiki project.

It fought at Dunbar, Stirling, and probably Worchester. 

More tartan blankets!

That will likely be it for Scotts units for a while, but there is lead on hand for a lot more, eventually!

Austerlitz a la Morschauser, solo continuation.

 

I finally picked up with the rest of the Austerlitz game solo, the French being next to move. 

In the process, i decided a few tweaks were needed for internal consistency, and to address a few weaknesses in the rules. 

This past Thursday was gorgeous - sunny and 80 degrees, so the dogs went for a trip to Lake Waramaug.

Get the Ball!

"Smoke" is now used to mark units that have fired; units without smoke may shoot during the opposing move under certain circumstances. 

All "smoke" is removed at the start of a player's move. 

Lots of shooting as the infantry lines close to close range! 

Austrian cavalry follows up on their previous success with new charges! 

The Allies issue some very effective musket fire! The yellow and green dice indicates hits; the red die is the Morale Test for units taking 2 or more hits. 

Even long range musketry can do some damage. 

Mostly Russian cannons firing at the Southern end of the battlefield. 

Resolving the second big cavalry charge; the French Chasseurs are overwhelmed and destroyed, whilst the Austrian Hussars are severely outclassed by the French Cuirassiers; not only the Hussars are eliminated...

but Liechtenstein, who was leading the charge, is as well! The Austrian cavalry now lack command as well as rallying ability. 

Overview from the South at the end of the Allied move. 

Murat's cavalry reserved has taken 50% losses and is SHAKEN; it had to retreat 4 boxes!

On the following French move, some sharp shooting by the artillery on the Santon and the Legere in the village eliminates another Austrian Hussar unit. 

Limited French shooting in the South. 

Somewhat disappointing volleys by Lannes' infantry.

 

The beginning of the assault upon the Pratzen heights. 

Situation in the South; there are a lot of crippledunits on both sides!

Overview from the South at the end of the French move. 

Very effective fire by the Allies in the Northern sector!

To the South, Russian Dragoons charge boldly across the Goldbach bridge at Tellnitz.. 

With no "smoke, the French infantry may fire at their attackers, and they score a big 3 hits; the Russian cavalry passe morale, and thus continues the charge!

Down to just 1 hit left, the Dragons score a hit on the infantry in the melee, but are eliminated by the French infantry who score a great many hits themselves. 

Overview of the center. 

Russians manage but a few hits on the French around Sokolnitz. 

Overview of the North after the Allied move.

Overview of the Center and South from the Allied lines. 

French start their move with some effective fire on the far North, driving back one of the Austrian Cuirassier units with heavy losses. 

French fire by Lannes' boys  is more effective this time. 

French infantry and cavalry are threatening to isolate Kolowrat's Austrian infantry from the center. 

Situation in the North after all combat is resolved. 

Another view; bioth sides have several badly battered units. 

The attack on the Pratzen Heights reaches close musket range!

In the South, Davout's infantry boldly retakes Tellnitz, eliminating another unit of Russian cavalry in the process with their shooting. 

At this point, needing to get everything organized and packed up for the actual game next weekend, I ceased play. Another move by both sides would likely have seen several more commands go Shaken! I'll publish the revised rules after that game is played out...