"One last ATF game before the holidays - Wartenburg, 1813" Topic

The Gentlemen Wargamers were treated to a new Befreiungskreig scenario by our host and gamemaster, Elliott. In this hypothetical scenario we explore what might have happened if, in September of 1813, Bertrand had never received Ney's order to fall back and maintain his line of communication with Torgau after his initial repulse at Wartenburg.

More pictures, with captions, a briefing and full OOB, here:

link

Enjoy,

Jeff

Nicely done!

Shouldn't there be Fall foliage on the table to match the season?

The initial deployment is unusually linear for the ATF, though I'm happy to note that had no bearing on the development of the action.

Is the peculiar basing of the Cossacks because of something in the rules mechanics, or an artifact of some previous gaming effort or artistic flourish?

- Ix

Excellent looking game and a convivial atmosphere it seems, great stuff :)

Shouldn't there be Fall foliage on the table to match the season?

Late September would be a bit pre-peak for that region in most years. There probably should have been some autumn color mixed in with the green. I will chastise Elliott for overlooking that particular detail and thereby diminishing your appreciation of the game.

The initial deployment is unusually linear for the ATF

I really didn't have enough troops to do anything fancy, so I decided to just line them up and wait on events . . . like the arrival of my reinforcements. Unfortunately for me, that required the rolling of 12 cumulative pips on a D6 rolled once per turn, and I proceeded to toss a long string of ones and twos. If Von Thuman had arrived just one turn later, we would have been crushed.

Is the peculiar basing of the Cossacks because of something in the rules mechanics, or an artifact of some previous gaming effort or artistic flourish?

All of the above, kind of. Locally, we have arrived at a sort of convention of basing irregular troops that did not (or could not) operate in close order on circular bases. Aesthetically, it just looks more irregular, and the base is a reminder that unformed troops have no "front". We do the same for units like Spanish guerrillas or Prussian schutzen and volunteer jagers.

Late September would be a bit pre-peak for that region in most years. There probably should have been some autumn color mixed in with the green. I will chastise Elliott for overlooking that particular detail and thereby diminishing your appreciation of the game.

Biggest issue is getting the appropriate quality of tree. My trees are mostly from Busch. There are also a few Rio Grande and the higher quality Woodland Scenics in my collection. Yes, there is the cheaper end Woodland Scenics but they don't stand up well if put on the table next to the higher end trees from Germany.

Now Busch does N/Z gauge trees in spring blossom foliage, but no autumn range. I have looked at the Noch trees from The Wargames Company, but they are 'high summer' or 'spring' or some with snowy pines for winter.

The only trees that probably fit my quality criteria are Woodland Scenics "Harvest Blaze" range (running at about $1.20 USD a tree for the N gauge). Since our Saltanovka game required me to use just over 600 non-spring tree and I still had to borrow more to make the game work, I realise that I don't have enough trees. So next years project will include more trees made up of both autumn trees and more pine trees. I think something between 300-400 should be adequate, unless I start putting on ACW games.

One thing missing from the write-up are the references to General Teuaentzein's cat. Indeed the Corp commander is referred to as Von Lindenau while bolstering a reserve regiment.

The initial deployment is unusually linear for the ATF.

The ATF group do scenarios where one side it partially deployed. In this particular case the Prussians had to cover a large frontage with a limited force. 12 Battalions of Landwehr infantry, 16 squadrons of Landwehr cavalry, 8 squadrons of Don Cossacks and two batteries.

To represent the superiority of Prussian cavalry in theater I had the French briefing and issuing of orders prior to seeming the Prussian deployment.

General point: figures used. 10mm

French: a mixture of AIM (a discontuined line) and Lancer miniatures. Artillery is Old Glory

Prussians: mostly Pendraken. Cossacks and some guns and most of the artillery crew are Old Glory. Some of the guns are from the GHQ range.

Heh. I didn't mean to put anyone on his back foot with a snark about fall colors. But it is interesting to hear the story I uncovered. I didn't realize it was hard to get fall colors in 10mm scale. Thanks for sharing.

There are also a few Rio Grande and the higher quality Woodland Scenics in my collection. Yes, there is the cheaper end Woodland Scenics but they don't stand up well if put on the table next to the higher end trees from Germany.

Which WS trees are you calling "higher quality" and which "lower quality"?

I've only ever built the WS clump foam trees, and while I'm perfectly happy with them, I find they don't mix well with other types of trees using fiber strands or more clearly defined leafy bits. You seem to have a lot of those other types, so I'm guessing you're calling the clump foam trees "lower quality".

I once had a bunch Woodland Scenics fall foliage clump foam trees, but I don't know what happened to them. Unfortunately, the clump foam is a bit too consistently colored, so looks a bit cartoonish unless presented as a whole forest in the background. I still have the materials to build a forest of them, and my plan was to do exactly that (build stands of multiple trees in mixed colors), but I'm not also trying to mix clump foam trees with other model tree types, so you have a different aesthetic problem that hadn't occurred to me.

- Ix

Ix,

No problem mate.

I started out with the WS clump foam trees. They are a great starting point. I then moved on to Busch for fir trees and found their deciduous range. The problem was that I didn't find the WS "foam clump" esthetically pleasing when mixed with the Busch.

WS do indeed do multiple tree ranges. The foam clump trees are in their "Realistic Range" (either pre-made or kit form).

Beyond this are the "Woodland Classics" I alluded to earlier. This range run at about $1.20 USD for the N gauge tree. They also have a Premium Range that seem most suited to HO gauge (20/25mm) and cost between $7.50 USD and $16.00 USD a tree.

One last note on the terrain.

The buildings used in Wartenburg are from the German company "Vollmer" and are from their Z gauge range.

Z gauge works out at 1:220 and are slightly smaller than 10mm (1:182). N gauge is between 1:148 and 1:160 depending on manufacturer. I have used N guage if I want a prominent feature like a German castle. For buildings in villages, they're just a little to big.

Why not use a generic building from a wargames range? Well, if you're fighting in Germany I want it to look German. If we're in Spain I want the buildings to look Mediterranean.

I went with z gauge because the foot print worked out well.