Peninsular War: The Duke of Lancaster’s Own 4th Foot

The Kings Own 4th foot, 2nd Bn

Core Force
Peninsular War British Regulars
The Duke of Lancaster’s Own 4th Foot

Captain Quilp,Leader, Status III      (9)
Lieutenant Sheridan Bucket Status I   (3)
One group of 8 Grenadiers, Muskets (7)
Two Groups of 8 Regulars, Muskets (12)
Ensign Wellard Leader, Status II      (6)
Two Groups of 8 Regulars, Muskets   (12)
Sergeant Postlethwaite Jaggers Leader I     (3)
One Group of 6 Light Company Skirmishers,
Jeremiah Catchmole, former Poacher and Marksman (2)
Muskets   (8)
Point Value: 60

Light Company, The Duke of Lancaster’s Own 4th Foot
Five groups (5 x 8) of Line, one (1 x 6) of Skirmishers plus two men acting as mule wranglers for Sgt Jaggers with eight sacks of supplies.

Captain Quilp Big Man III
A Parson's Son from Northumbria.
Notorious as the most short sighted man ever to serve in the British Army.  Sir Arthur Wellesley presented Quilp with a telescope after the battle of Copenhagen inscribed "Take a look through one of these next time Quilp!" Commands the light Company of the 4th Foot.

 

Ensign Richard Wellhard.  Big Man II
Formerly the Sergeant of the Light Company.  Born in the slums of Gilesgate in the County of Durham.  His parentage is obscure and he was first recorded as stealing apples from the orchard of Hieronymous Quilp the village parson.  Young Richard constantly found himself in trouble and eventually was compelled to join the army, being recruited into the 4th Foot by the Parson's son, an Officer in the regiment.  Wellard was promoted to Ensign by Sir Arthur, after a heroic incident at Rolica. As the tallest man in the Regiment Wellard has earned the nickname "Long Dick."


Lt Sheriden Bucket 
Wounded in action at Rolica, Sheridan is a "Mummy's boy."  He has a Status of I among the troops, but he is well liked, if slighty useless.

Sgt Postlethwaite "Mother" Jaggers  Big Man I
A true psycopath who talks to his "Mother," at inopportune moments.  He is the most evil man in the battalion and rates only a Status I since he is universally hated.  Carries a halbard as his badge of Office. 

Captain Quilp's Pocket book:
David Ld. Farthingdale, Lieutenant Royal Dragoons. Drunk.
Colonel Courtleigh Manners of the 4th Foot
Dr Samuel Johnson Physic and lexicographer.
Arch Enemy Major Finguin of the 27th Du Ligne.

Battle on the Thames, 1816

The battle of the Thames was fought against the backdrop of Britain's withdrawal from the Third Coalition and the subsequent division of the nation into a state of near civil war.  Vice Admiral Farage, of the Red, confronted a smaller squadron under Rear Admiral Geldof of the Blue.

Farage had argued that supporting the European Coalition was sheer folly, and that Britain should forge its own way in the world, regardless of the cost.  The Establishment, including the Prime Minister had argued that it was Britain that set up the Coalition in the first place and to abandon our allies was a catastrophic thing to do.

Farage had appealed to the Fleet and supervised a Grand Mutiny, as his sailors and fishermen took a stand on the Thames itself. 

Farage held the weather gauge, and maneuvered up river at noon splitting Geldof from an allied flotilla of boats under the command of Momentum Luddites, who it later transpired supported Farage rather than the Government.  By one o'clock Farage's flagship The HMS Enoch Powell (90) had drawn level with Geldof in HMS Kenneth Clarke (74).

Farage spent most of the battle holding his blue bound copy of Kings regulations aloft, whilst Geldof held a pink bound copy of the Fighting Instructions.  Jokes about Geldof's dislike of Monday's seem sure to follow... 

The situation at 1pm as the fleets close in on one another

 

Farage's flagship boldly leads the way... into a devastating fire as Geldof angles the line to take maximum advantage.  Both Admirals took the opportunity to harangue each other as the word "Gobshite" was traded back and forward.

Farage's flagship is sunk.  A 90 gun ship seen off in minutes!  Finally underwater the great Admiral is forced to shut up and give the rest of us some peace.  The second in line is damaged.  Nobody expected this level of firepower

With his 74 leading the line Geldof 's fleet punish the Leave the coalition fleet.

But in places as the lines run past at close rane there is tremendous damage on both sides.

More of the Leave ships are sunk

But at the end of the line Geldof is caught in a rat trap.  His ship is boxed in, and these lighter vessels are finally able to knock his block off.

So it's goodbye to the great man as he joins Farage in the river, enjoying his first wash since the 1780s.  It must be a Monday after all.

Much of the Leave fleet strikes, as the Momentum Flotilla sweep in, having changed sides yet again.  Game over, and yet another sad and devisive day for Britain.  Still, with both of these Admirals lost in the river it wasn`t all a total loss...

Somewhere over the Mediterranean. Bag the Hun

Having finally gotten around to painting up my Museum miniatures Italian Aircraft I decided that the time had come to pit them against the Desert Air Force.  Unfortunately, on opening the WW2 Desert Airforce box, not seen since the move to Cyprus, I discovered that this much vaunted collection consisted of two, that's two, Hurricanes.  The entire remainder of the Aircraft were... German...
Odd how my memory played tricks on me.  I could have sworn that there were 12 Hurricanes. 
Ah well, its desperate measures.  Squadron leader Quiggles and Young Bertie were about to face the Regia Aeronautica in a pair of early war Hurricanes.
Once I looked up aircraft stats I was reassured.  The Italian planes have style... the Macchi C.202 Folgore is a beautiful design, my Fiat G.50 Freccia ("Arrow") planes look nicely early war, being flown with cockpits open.  The Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bomber is a tri-engined beast, but it has style.

Unfortunately the thing that none of these aircraft has is substance, the two Hurricanes outgun them all.

A Fiat CR.42 Falco biplane is escorted by a newer Fiat G.50 on patrol

Quiggles and Bertie

The bi-plane dives down onto the deck whist the G50 attacks.

In a flash Quiggles is on the tail, and the G50 is done for, Critical damage, pilot killed.

The bi-plane escapes

Enter the rest of the Regia Aeronautica

Straight into a dog-fight

The C.202s sweep back around and try to get a shot at the Hurricanes.

The Bomber dives low and heads away

Quiggles downs one of the C.202s

Leaving Bertie todeal with the fighters, Quiggles dives after the bomber

 

RIP Bertie as his engine is shot away

Sweeping around, Quiggles kills the bomber.  Job done.

An 18th Century Game

I began this Sport of Kings game in 2016, did the first move and never got any further.  It deserves another chance so I have reprised the first move, and completed the first game, with blue coated Swedes attacking red coated Danes for the prize of the "Kingdom of Scandinavia."

The Game: Turn One

Country	Holdings	Builds	Moves	Bank
Austria	22	Builds 4AP in Austria under Lacy	Charles moves into Italy, and declares the Army of Italy	2 Crowns
Deploys:  Charles in Austria with 11AP Daun in Transylvania 4AP Browne in Bohemia 7AP Notables  Robert de Casside   3/10                    Filip Koreczki   3/10
Great Britain Colonial  Strategy	25	20 for Naval yard in London 5 crowns for 1 AP in Bengal	2SOL 2 FR to West Atlantic under Admral Hood
Deploys:  11AP n Hanover under the Duke of Cumberland 3AP England under Sackville 4AP in Middle Atlantic Colonies under Amherst 3AP in Bengal under Clive 8SOL 4FR in Eastern Atlantic under Admral Hawke Notables Sir Theodore Creasy 3/10
France Continental Strategy	21	2AP N. France 1AP S.France		1 Crown
Deploys  D'Estrees N.France 15AP Siege Train Soubise in Mysore 3AP +1 Ad. de Bussey 2FR in Arabian Sea  4SOL 2FR Toulon Ad Reine Notables  Alain, Compte de Finay
Mahratta Confederacy	2	None		2 Crowns
Deploys 7AP inMahratta States Notables      Dhanaji Jadhav  4/11
Netherlands	5	1AP United Provinces
Deploys 5AP in United Provnces under William 2AP Columbo Prince Waldek 4 FR in Ceylon Notables Peter von Frechtling  2/10
Persia		15AP for attack on Georgia in summer
Deploys 15AP for attack on Georgia in summer Notables  Ismail  3/10
Prussia	15	3AP in Prussia	Frederick moves into Duchy or Warsaw (3)  Warsaw is declared part of Prussia,  Garrisoned by 1AP. Frederick's Field Army now 14AP
Deploys 15AP in Prussia under Frederick 2AP East Saxony under Wilhelm 3AP Henry  in East Prussia Notables  Micheal von Pfanenstiel  2/10
Russia	12		Munnich moves into Kiev. (2)  Kiev s declared part of Russia.   Garrisoned by 1AP.	12 Crowns
Deploys 15AP in Central Russia under Munnich 6AP Southern Ukraine under Apraxin
Spain	22	None		22 Crowns
Deploys 15AP in Castile under Charles III 1SOL in Western Med 2AP under Captain General Cevalles Cortes in Cuba 2SOL in Cuba 1SOL in Sicily Notables   Jonathan Russell, Earl of Bragge
Sweden	6	1AP in Sweden	War on Denmark.	1 Crown
Deploys 6AP in Pomerania under Sternberg 4AP n Sweden under Latingshausen  4FR n Baltic Notables  Ausgustus von Thiesing 3/10
Ottomans	16	3AP in Turkey	15AP into Georgia (2)  Selim declares the Army of Georgia	1 Crown
Deploys 15AP in Turkey under Yegen Pasha 6AP in Bulgaria under Sultan Selm III 4boats on Black Sea Notables   Selim  3/10
Declarations of War
Sweden vs Denmark	Sweden declares the Kingdom of Scandinavia, War with Denmark

18th Century Battles... Lines Lines Lines!

The Red Duke leads his squadrons against the Blues

Both sides begin to volley

The Red Duke pushes the Blue Cavalry back

Honours are pretty even in the line vs line firefight but it is the Reds who suffer most.  With the Blue cavalry fled and the Red Infantry withdrawing the battle is pretty much drawn.  In Campaign terms I will give it to the Swedes.

Auxilia Scenario Five: The Hill Fort

The Hill Fort is a scenario that represents the last stand for the Segovae.  They have been beaten in each of the preceding games, so the "Attack on the Walls" scenario can`t be used.  I`m going to add in the Oak Grove as part of this scenario, and double the Celtic cavalry and warband numbers. 

The whole Roman Cohort takes part in this battle.  Six Centuries, plus a Turmae of Auxiliary Cavalry.  The Romans get 6 Leadership points, representing the six Centurions.

The Celts get Five Leadership Points representing their chieftains, as well as two Strategies, "Champion's Challenge" and "Ambush."

1st Batavians
Prefect         Flatuous Maximus     (Overweight) Praefectus cohortis
First Spear  "Uncle" Quintus         (Fatherly)
Centurion    Figulus Incontius       (Martyr to his bowels)
Centurion    Quilpius Magnificus  (Vain)
Centurion    Sextus Iraticus            (Angry boy)
Centurion    Pubicus Impetuous     (Rash)
Centurion    Inflamius Ictis            (the Weasel)
Decurion     Flaminus Lascivious  Turmae, Petriana Cavalry Ala

Terrain
1 x Ditch/Stream
1 x Hill with palisaded village2 x Woods

The "Ambush" strategem fails and the Celts deploy, looking dangerous, and slightly medieval for some of those figures...

Those are 13th Century Men at arms and crossbowmen manning the Hill-fort, but Prefect Flatuous of the 1st Batavians hasn't noticed!

The full cohort of 480 Auxilia.  An impressive line.  I tried to keep the red shielded elements in the front line...

Champion's Challenge having failed the Selgovae chief takes off after that turma of Auxiliary cavalry

The Cohort thrash the right flank warbands

A Century comes to the rescue and sees off the Chief and his chariots

When in doubt... a Cavalry charge.  This was looking bad for the Celts.

And the cohort sent its units to flank the Celtic right, which had been holding well...

Pretty much game over...

And in the Hill-fort those medieval guys hadn`t even bothered to sally out.  That's the problem with using troops to stand in when you don`t have enough Celts... No loyalty.

Centurion Figulus reflects that his century didnt lose a single man!
With portly Prefect Flatuous Maximus having subdued the Selgovae the Batavians must now go on to a new challenge, once I`ve properly worked out what that will be!

One for the future, a planned Deva Victrix (Roman Chester) game set around 70AD. The geography might not be quite right... but it's better than Ptolemy's map.