RJW Solo game in 10mm using Battles for Empire

Started by Shedman, 25 September 2011, 09:47:09 AM

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Shedman

I'm currently painting forces for the RJW using Pendraken's 10mm ranges. As well their RJW range I've also used figures from the 1877 Russo-Turkish War, the RCW & WW1 and the 1879-1884 South American Pacific War.

I'm basing 4 infantry figures to a 30x15mm stand with 3 stands being a company and 12 stands being a battalion.

At present I have 4 battalions of Japanese infantry and 1 Russian battalion with a couple of Maxim MG (removed from their carriages) and 2 Putilov 76mm Artillery pieces.

I've been looking at shed loads of rules to see if any take my fancy. I've whittled it down to 3 sets which meet my criteria â€" simple, flexible and fun â€" Battles for Empire, Contemptible Little Armies and Future War Commander

I thought I would try all 3 sets using the same scenario â€" a Japanese assault on Russian trenches â€" to see which worked best.

First up is Chris Leach's Battles for Empire covering British Imperial Warfare 1870-1902 and therefore spot on for the RJW. I've used BFE for the Sudan and the Spanish American War and it works really well â€" certainly the best set of Colonial Rules I've played. Chris Salander had put up an RJW variant on the BFE yahoo group so I used that as well

As the forces were quite small I used a 2 foot terrain tile with a low ridge at one end occupied by the Russian artillery and Maxims with 4 companies of East Siberian infantry in trenches at the base of the ridge. This allowed the artillery and mgs to provide overhead fire support. I've not read any accounts of Maxims being deployed in the trenches other than at Port Arthur and even then they tended to be in the forts.

At the other end of the board were 3 battalions of Japanese just emerged from a field of kaoliang and in between a couple of pieces of rough ground.

BFE's game turn is Roll for initiative, winners decides who moves 1st or 2nd, once both sides have moved then comes simultaneous artillery shooting then simultaneous small arms shooting and finally close combat. Morale is combined with movement in a similar fashion to Fire & Fury

The first 3 turns were taken up with the Japanese advancing â€" initially by battalion (a group move) and then due to Russian artillery and MG fire by company as units became disordered or shaken and had to break off from the group.

I was surprised that the Japanese got to the trenches with very few casualties â€" they only lost 1 company â€" however they then stalled for 2 or 3 turns in front of them before charging in. I allowed the Japanese to do fanatic charges which helped them greatly â€" +1 to the dice. The close combat again lasted for 2 or 3 turns until the right-hand Russian company broke under a 2 company assault leaving the Japanese to roll up the trench line.

At the end the Russians had lost 2 companies plus the artillery and MG on the right flank â€" half their force â€" whilst the Japanese lost 4 companies out of 12.

I was expecting more Japanese companies to stop way before the trench line â€" Admittedly the Russians did have bad shooting and combat dice. However in Human Bullets by Sakurai in several instances the Japanese get really close to the Russian lines before getting pinned down by firepower and then eventually taking the position

The rules worked well and I'm tempted to say these are the ones for me but I'll try CLA & FWC. My only dislike was the number of markers used â€" disordered ,shaken and casualty markers do leave a lot of clutter â€" especially as I aiming to have at least 3 times more troops on the board

Photos of the game can be viewed here photobucket.com/rjw110924

Leon

www.pendraken.co.uk - Now home to over 7000 products, including 4500 items for 10mm wargaming, plus MDF bases, Battlescale buildings, I-94 decals, Litko Gaming Aids, Militia Miniatures, Raiden Miniatures 1/285th aircraft, Red Vectors MDF products, Vallejo paints and much, much more!

nikharwood

Excellent - nice to see the RJW; and those trenches are great as well - really effective.

I've not played BEF but CLA is a nice ruleset & FWC is top-notch of course  8)

stephenopolisIV

Great action with RJW. I have these figures also and have settled on a set of computer aided gaming rules from Computer Strategies. "The Great Powers"

I have played the battle of the Yalu River on a greatly reduced figure number with them a number of times. Here are the army set ups:

Japanese:
2 line divisions consisting of of 4 battalions (64 figures) each
1 Guard divisions consisting of of 4 battalions (64 figures)
3 Divisional artillery consisting of 36 guns each (272 field & 36 mountain guns all 3" or 75mm)
1 Corps artillery consisting of 20 (5" howitzers)

Russian:
2 Under strength Divisions consisting of 5 3/4 battalions (115 figures)
1 cavalry division consisting of 24 squadrons (12 figures) Cossacks
Corps artillery consisting of 62 guns all 3" or 75"
Machine gun company (8 guns)

To make the game interesting each battalion unit consisted of about 3,000 men.

In all the games we played. The Japanese suffered pretty heavy losses on the frontal assaults and eventually were sent to ground in the entanglements just in front of the Russian trenches.

The best way for them to actually achieve a successful attack into the Russian trenches was with fire support from their 5" howitzers. This kept the Russians head down so the Japanese could assault with less losses.

The following were the notes to help each gaming commander:

1)  Objective & Notes to help Japanese players

OBJECTIVE:
                         Your army is to have crossed the Yalu & Ji rivers and establish a strong bridgehead on the Manchurian side of them. By clearing the Russian earthworks of troops.

Time is of the essence. You have 5 hours (10 game moves in which to achieve this).

HISTORIC  & GAME TIME:
                                                 One move reflects 30 minutes in real time. (On May 1st 1904 the Japanese bombardment commenced at 0500 and by 1000 the Japanese Infantry were holding the Russian trenches)

SCALES:
                    Ground scale:  100 yards = 1 inch
                    Unit scale:        Infantry base = 1 battalion (650 to 900 men)
                                             Artillery base = 1 or 2 batteries (8 to 12 guns)
                                             Cavalry base  = 6 squadrons (400 to 450 men)
                 
ALL troops begin the game in march column (Infantry/Cavalry) or limbered (Artillery)


1) Unlimber All artillery

2) Deploy Guard & 2nd Division into battle line

3) Use howitzers to bombard

4)  Infantry ordered to “advance by bounds” adds 50% (1 inch) to their movement rate

5) Troops advancing by bounds need a close order unit within support distance to the rear



2)  Objective & Notes to help Russian players

OBJECTIVE:
                         Your army is to hold the line of earthworks north and West of the Yalu and Ji rivers to prevent them from falling to the enemy.

Your troops are mostly concentrated in the South West near ANTUNG as enemy gunboats engaged your Cossacks their yesterday in prelude to the attack. 

HISTORIC  & GAME TIME:
                                                 One move reflects 30 minutes in real time. (On May 1st 1904 the Japanese bombardment commenced at 0500 on your defenses followed by their ground assault.

SCALES:
                    Ground scale:  100 yards = 1 inch
                    Unit scale:        Infantry base = 1 battalion (650 to 900 men)
                                             Artillery base = 1 or 2 batteries (8 to 12 guns)
                                             Cavalry base  = 6 squadrons (400 to 450 men)
                 

ALL troops begin the game in march column (Infantry/Cavalry) or limbered (Artillery)

1) Unlimber, split and entrench your main artillery batteries

2) Entrench some of your troops to support your main battery positions

3) Have reserves prone in cover and close enough to replace your entrenched troops or counter attack

4)  Infantry ordered to “advance by bounds” adds 50% ( 1 inch) to their movement rate

5) Troops advancing by bounds need a close order unit within support distance
Stephen Staniforth

Shedman

I tried computer rules many years ago and found that they generally worked well especially in the fog of war department.

However I did have 3 gripes with them, firstly everything had to go through the person at the keyboard which in large multiplayer games created a bottle neck, secondly weird things happened such as units nowhere the enemy would rout and finally an awful lot of paper was wasted in print outs.

Thanks for the heads-up I shall put the rules on my "To Get" list

I refought the solo game again this time using Contemptible Little Armies which I found to be extremely bloody but very simple  although I wasn't happy with the figure conversion

I've also created a blog to hold these AARs www.twomarshals.blogspot.com

toolsey

Hello Shedman
Very nice report, great figures, interesting period do you not think though troops advancing against dug in reasonably steady infantry with bolt action rifles should be shot to pieces as in the CLA version of your scenario.

Also is it you on the miniaturespage  query re pendraken figures , if it is you the picture of the WW1 russian pendraken inf is out of date they have been remastered now, the adv figure is modelled without bayonet attached , pity the old figure with bayonet adv was one my favourite figures from pendraken.
Cheers

Shedman

You are right - I really should have expected the Japanese to get shot to pieces - as they were in real life - I just wasn't expecting the rules to be that bloody

Yes it is me on TMP - I got the photo from the Great War Spearhead yahoo group - they are not my favourite figures. I find it odd that manufacturers produce Russians without bayonets for this period.

Originally I was going to do the RJW in 15mm with Old Glory figures. I purchased their 50 man pack only to find out not one of them had a bayonet - very annoying

Shedman

Finally the  last of the 3 rule sets gets to be (mis)used for the RJW - this time it's Future War Commander

http://twomarshals.blogspot.com/2011/10/10mm-rjw-solo-game-using-future-war.html