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Monday, 23 September 2024

Commands & Colors - Seven Years War

In the comments to the last post I was asked about how we played C&C with the 40mm semi flats.........

Over the years we have played most of the C&C games, my favourites being:

Napoleonic, We generally play the Epic Battles version with 15mm figures on an 8' x 6' table with 120mm hexes. These give very enjoyable games with reasonably historical outcomes.







Memoir 44 (WW2), with 1/300 figures on the same 120mm hexes, not such a well designed set of rules - but still fun.



Red Alert - yes space ships - a fun game with all the plastic spaceships and cloth in the box, so it is easy to transport and set up,





I also have 'Tricorn', the AWI version, however this is one of my least favourite versions, having more of the feel of a skirmish game - not in my opinion suitable for the large clashes of the SYW.

A gaming friend has made a very nice  12' x 6' gaming cloth marked out in 180mm hexes, which he uses to play C&C Napoleonic Epic with 28mm figures. He also has the hills and woods to match, so an easy option for me to borrow for a participation game. My 160mm frontage units sit nicely into the 180mm hexes (which are just annotated with lightly marked corners - one visible to front right of the artillery).


SYW Rules Changes

There was not really a lot of change needed, the main ones being:

Infantry v Cavalry

In this period the infantry was generally better trained, and able to repel frontal attacks from cavalry without the need to form square, so we modified the rules as follows:
  • In the C&C system the facing of units is not relevant, everything fights all around, For SYW we decided that the facing of the infantry does matter, so at the end of the movement phase all infantry, even those which have not been activated, are adjusted to align with one of the sides or corners of hex. The unit then has 2 (facing corner) or 3 (facing side) vulnerable 'rear' hexes.
  • When infantry is attacked from the front (not the rear), the infantry ALWAYS fights first, and the cavalry can NEVER ignore flags. Note that if the cavalry has sufficient movement it can ride around the infantry to attack the rear, so the ends of lines need to be supported.

Artillery

Artillery in this period was neither as mobile or capable of combined arms training as later (although the Austrians were getting there), so:
  • Artillery may never fire overhead.
  • Artillery may not combine in melee unless in support of an adjacent infantry unit.
  • Other than Austrians, artillery may not  make additional moves such as those on the 'Bombard', 'Artillery Reposition' or 'Call forward the Reserves' cards.

Prussian Infantry

Prussian infantry was (at the start of the war) better trained than most others, so they have been given bonuses when firing on the move and entering melee with opposing infantry.

Prussian Cavalry

Prussian heavy cavalry (and cuirassiers) could charge for much greater distances than others, so they are allowed an additional hex movement when charging (not additive with the 'Cavalry Charge' card


I've pasted in the playsheets we used for the battle of Kolin - I don't think Blogger has a file upload facility? (For Lobositz we did not apply the advantages for the Prussians, as they were tired and hungry after a long night march.)








 

Friday, 20 September 2024

Battle of Lobositz & New Moulds

As I'm sure is obvious, I have not done much casting or gaming with the 40mm semi-flats so far this year.

Battle of Lobositz

I did however put on a participation game (back in June) using the Commands and Colors (American!) Napoleonics system to play the Battle of Lobositz. 

The table was 12' x 6', a scan of the battle layout is below. The Prussians are stacked up exiting the valley, and the Austrians partly hidden behind the village and in the sunken road, with Grenz on the hill. We played it twice and the Austrians won both times - as they should😀

The scale was roughly one unit on table equates to a cavalry regiment, two battalions or a 10 gun battery.

Below are some photos, many of which are copied from Aly's Toy Soldiers











New Moulds

Prince August have also been very quiet with regards to the SYW range, Chris Tubb has been working on other projects, such as their 54mm Middle Earth ranges, however I understand that they may be sculpting for some new SYW moulds over the coming months. 

  • Reprint/rescale the Austrian cuirassier to as the current moulds are way too big (3 moulds),
  • Reprint the dragoon heads as they ware currently too small, just a reprint to scale (1 mould).
  • Prussian cuirassier (3 moulds)
  • British infantry (4 moulds) - see post January last year for suggested figures.
  • British artillery crews in coats (2 moulds).
My personal preference would be to do them in the order above so that I can complete my Prussians & Austrians, however I suspect PA would sell more moulds if they did the British first.