Blasthof Bridge (Parte 1)

 

On the first move my cavalry crossed the river and the others moved swiftly towards the bridge , 'A's troops moved forward as he had ordered .

 

 

My cavalry reaches the bridge and prepares to cross , supported by the artillery.

 

 

They cross and come under very ineffectual fire from 'A's troops . 'A's cavalry and guns are still moving into position and his infantry are redeploying to counter the cavalry.

 

 

My cavalry deploy to attack the enemy infantry as the guns move up to cover the bridge . The cavalry on the far left flank clash and retire to recover.

 

 

My cavalry clash with his infantry but start taking casualties from the supporting infantry and the guns which are now deployed on the hill . However my own artillery is now in position and the infantry is moving up to cover the bridge .

 

 

 

 

 Half way through the game and I think 'A' may have a struggle to capture the bridge , neither side has taken many casualties yet, but with both lots of guns now ready to fire I think this may change in the next move or so . Too be continued .....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blasthof Bridge - How To Fight It ?

Having set up the game (see last blog entry ) I began to consider how to fight it ? , purely historical or allow hindsight ? , at what point do you deviate away from the original ? . My solution was to write down a plan for the Imperial Army and get my wargaming colleague 'A' to provide a plan for the Electoral .

 

Now lets see how it plays !.

Blasthof Bridge Revisited .

There are certain iconic wargaming battles that have stood the test of time and are dear to the heart of most O.S. wargamers , Featherstone's 'Plattville Valley' , Grant's 'The Waggon Train' or 'Sawmill Village'. Ranking with these must also be 'Blasthof Bridge' from 'Charge' by Brig Young and Lt Col Lawford , whilst musing on these battles I realised that I had never played Blasthof bridge , so I thought I had better rectify this using my 40mm homecast SYW figures.

 

The battlefield set up with the bridge , Blasthof  Farm and the berg .

 

 

The armies set up - the Imperial Army nearest the camera , the Electoral Army in the distance.

 

 

The Imperial Army set up as the book - 16 cavalry, 32 infantry and 2 guns and crews.

 

 

The Electoral Army of 12 cavalry , 40 infantry and 2 guns and crews .Well that's the game set up and I am looking forward to refighting this classic battle .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Schaumburg-Lippe-Buckeberg Artillery.

 

One of the problems with the S.Y.W. era is that most gunners wear dark blue uniforms and red cuffs - a bit boring ! . So when I can across the above unit I thought that's the one for my Allied forces !.

 

 

The coat is maybe a little to 'light blue' but look better for it I think !.

 

 

The above figure is another Irregular 42mm figure , this time a Cavalry Officer , who annoyingly had a Carbine moulded on, which I decided to cut off  .

 

 

A Rotund Figure

 

When I decided to do the S.Y.W. in 40mm I thought I would cast up all of the figures I needed and up till now I have done about 90% of the time . However there are only so many moulds out there and when I was sending a order off to Irregular I notice they do a 42mm General figure , so I decided to get one to see if he would match.

 

 

The plain casting was not that inspiring , however a coat of paint and varnish and he looks better . A little more rotund than his cast comrades but size wise a good match . The hot weather here in the U.K.  does not seem to conducive  to casting and painting at the moment combined with puppy sitting duties means not much to report at the present time.

 

Feeling a bit better !

 

Whilst I was unwell I did some thinking about various wargaming problems (this in its self was a sign I was getting better). One of which was the ammo used in 'Funny Little Wars' - when played outside this is no problem but on the wargaming table the spring powered guns and matchsticks 'ping' ! all over the place !- this is even worse when no felt cloth is used . However the Treborian Ministry of War has come up with a solution - the 'Blu-Tack' sabot head ! , this weights the matchstick and initial tests suggest a vast improvement in accuracy especially at close ranges . Their opponents Ferraro Rocca have denounced these developments as unethical and have filed a complaint to the Geneva Convention about them (whilst hurriedly investigating the possibilities of upgrading their own ammo stocks !). The above photo leaked to the press shows Treborian gunners preparing the deadly missiles.

Poorly Sickly

Been under the weather this last week - caught one of those 24 hour summer bugs that lasted about 4 days and so my mind and body have not been to far from the bathroom (not to be too graphic !) . This has left me with lethargy and no appetite (hope this will do wonders for my waistline ) hence the lack of posts of late . Hopefully normal service will be resumed soon !.