Battle Of Zoondoonga, Lionia 1904
The Ruritanians have been busy the last decades with border wars with Gerolstein. Now it has once again turned to Lionia where it has a small Southern enclave of territory.
Weaponry in Europe has greatly advanced, particularly the new Peabody-Sherman rifles and advances in artillery. With its Herman contacts Ruritania has modernized its weaponry although its uniforms have changed little.
Lionia has lagged behind in equipping its army with modern rifles but it has modernized and Westernized at least one regular infantry and one cavalry regiment. The latter, however, still rides bare foot with big toes holding on the the stirrups. It also has begun to invest in machine guns. The majority of its artillery is still old muzzle loaders but with a sprinkling of modern artillery pieces.
The Ruritanian army commander, General Zornburg had studied the 1800s battles and vowed not to make the same mistakes again. Instead the Ruritanian forces found an ideal battlefield where it could make firing lines and use cover. he had given his orders to General Heinrich Stufenburg to keep distance from the enemy hordes until they could be sufficiently reduced in numbers.
The Ruritanian column under General Heinrich Stufenburg was outnumbered but he coolly ordered the deployment of the horse artillery and infantry firing lines.
An artillery duel commences with Ruritanian modern pieces against antique muzzle loaders. Although the Lionians commenced the firing they failed to find the range, as did the Ruritanians.
Meanwhile general Zornburg's command came under fire but fell short of the Rifle regiment in the forest.
Lionian regulars take position in a patch of jungle.
The Lionian Arabs take position in a rocky outcrop.
The Ruritanian firing line under General Stufenburg.
Lionian white rabbits, observe the strange two legged creatures but this causes them to be oblivious to another pressing danger.
general Zornvurd's lancers remain in reserve, sheltered from enemy artillery by some nearby jungle.
General Zornburg's field artillery eventually range in on enemy artillery and infantry.
The crocodiles also range in on their prey.
Seen here are the reformed Lionian artillery, proud in their modern uniforms but as yet, incomplete in the updating of their cannons. The officer retains the traditional lion mane adornment on his cap. To their right are the Arab tribe and the Black Shield Looloos.
Seen here is the crack Ruritanian 'Palace Guard' (Whose role was long ago extended). In a desperate ploy the modenized First Lionian cavalry advances, dismounts and charges the Ruritanians. Of course they lose half their men to the well trained and equipped enemy. before they can even enter the forest. The irregular infantry are also stalled by the hot reception but press on into combat, only to be easily repelled..
Meanwhile a plump bunny is bushwacked and torn apart before its horrified children.
General Stufenburg is also meeting success. His artillery fired a lucky shot which caused an explosion in both Lionian gun limbers, wiping out the two guns, gun crews and much of two nearby regiments. The Second and Fourth infantry regiments easily repel an elite Looloo charge.
In the part of the field dealt with by General Stufenburg the remaining Lionians have sought shelter of some sand dunes.
General Stufenburg with staff.
The rock Arabs hold their ground, trusting to its cover while others shelter behind it and some forest.
The Lionian regular infantry and cavalry, having suffered crippling casualties withdraw out of harm's way.
A Ruritanian machine gun crew offer further encouragement to a speedy Lionian departure.
The Ruritanian rifle regiment cheers.
General Zornburg with his bodyguard surveys the field of victory. His eagle headed helmet is unusual for possessing only a single eagle head instead of the Ruritanian double head. This particulr helmet has been in the general's family for years and it represents the family crest.
General Zornburg congratulates his men.
Emperor Mathew The Second orders the retreat of his men, vowing to continue the struggle in the jungles and mountains. Ruritanian forces expand the frontier of the 'protectorate of South Lionia.
SETUP
This game took place on two tables one in the rumpus room and one in the connected garage.. it was possible to move troops from one table to another at designated places but the arrival on the other tabe would be determined in time by a D6 roll. Neither my Ruritanians nor Mathew's Lionians took the option.
The rule was also that at least six units had to begin on each board. The strongest forces were in the rumpus room table, the one with the most forest.
There was a random generation of terrain, then of deployment and sides. 1-2 = ends, 3-4 sides and 5-6 corner deployment with a further role to decide which corner. The garage table was set up with simple long table edge deployment. Dice roll also favored the Ruritanians by giving them most of the cover on the rumpus room table.
The Lionians were mostly equipped with primitive weapons or antique firearms but possessed four extra regiments.
The game went very much in Ruritania's favor with few Ruritanian casualties but massive Lionian ones. Victory conditions were based on table halves occupied without enemy present and the ability to reduce the enemy to a quarter strength. We allowed for fifteen moves but decided at the end of five moves that the Lionian cause was rapidly fading. the loss early on of the Lionian machine gun and four artillery pieces hastened the Lionian defeat. The explosion of the Lionian limbers was also catastrophic.
Mathew's best hope would have been a massed attack on the Ruritanian palace Guard with a number of units; two was not enough. Thy might have warn down the guard and then advanced through the jungle to overwhelm other units and reduce the impact of shooting.
We used the Funny Little Wars rules this time which are very unkind to the charging force as it allows the defenders a kind of over watch of free shot at the charging unit.
Weaponry in Europe has greatly advanced, particularly the new Peabody-Sherman rifles and advances in artillery. With its Herman contacts Ruritania has modernized its weaponry although its uniforms have changed little.
Lionia has lagged behind in equipping its army with modern rifles but it has modernized and Westernized at least one regular infantry and one cavalry regiment. The latter, however, still rides bare foot with big toes holding on the the stirrups. It also has begun to invest in machine guns. The majority of its artillery is still old muzzle loaders but with a sprinkling of modern artillery pieces.
The Ruritanian army commander, General Zornburg had studied the 1800s battles and vowed not to make the same mistakes again. Instead the Ruritanian forces found an ideal battlefield where it could make firing lines and use cover. he had given his orders to General Heinrich Stufenburg to keep distance from the enemy hordes until they could be sufficiently reduced in numbers.
The Ruritanian column under General Heinrich Stufenburg was outnumbered but he coolly ordered the deployment of the horse artillery and infantry firing lines.
A Ruritanian machine gun crew offer further encouragement to a speedy Lionian departure.
Emperor Mathew The Second orders the retreat of his men, vowing to continue the struggle in the jungles and mountains. Ruritanian forces expand the frontier of the 'protectorate of South Lionia.
SETUP
This game took place on two tables one in the rumpus room and one in the connected garage.. it was possible to move troops from one table to another at designated places but the arrival on the other tabe would be determined in time by a D6 roll. Neither my Ruritanians nor Mathew's Lionians took the option.
The rule was also that at least six units had to begin on each board. The strongest forces were in the rumpus room table, the one with the most forest.
There was a random generation of terrain, then of deployment and sides. 1-2 = ends, 3-4 sides and 5-6 corner deployment with a further role to decide which corner. The garage table was set up with simple long table edge deployment. Dice roll also favored the Ruritanians by giving them most of the cover on the rumpus room table.
The Lionians were mostly equipped with primitive weapons or antique firearms but possessed four extra regiments.
The game went very much in Ruritania's favor with few Ruritanian casualties but massive Lionian ones. Victory conditions were based on table halves occupied without enemy present and the ability to reduce the enemy to a quarter strength. We allowed for fifteen moves but decided at the end of five moves that the Lionian cause was rapidly fading. the loss early on of the Lionian machine gun and four artillery pieces hastened the Lionian defeat. The explosion of the Lionian limbers was also catastrophic.
Mathew's best hope would have been a massed attack on the Ruritanian palace Guard with a number of units; two was not enough. Thy might have warn down the guard and then advanced through the jungle to overwhelm other units and reduce the impact of shooting.
We used the Funny Little Wars rules this time which are very unkind to the charging force as it allows the defenders a kind of over watch of free shot at the charging unit.
The assortment of figures are truly inspirational. Makes great viewing.
ReplyDeleteThanks Alan. I enjoy employing a variety of figures and this fictional scenario increases the excuse to do so, because I even used ancient Egyptians.
ReplyDeletePersonally I like most of my units to look like they are composed of individuals even though I tend to have each unit in particular poses - running,marching or shooting. A lot of my units are created over an extensive period, which increases the chances that I'll use a variety of makers and paint; my Vikings and knights are especially prone to this. The Lionians had to use whatever African and Arab figures I had available which increased the variety.
One reason I like 54 and 60 mm is that the individual differences between figures really comes out. I do like to look at figures close up so they must have faces with individual features and painted buttons on uniforms.
I often think I'd like to go through my armies and, on the bases, give names to every figure but not only would this be rather time consuming but not very sensible as a lot of them will pass to Valhalla in the battles to come and I'd have o change the names! However I do this with my medieval character figures.