BORODINO AT COLOURS 2012

AAR on Loughton Strike Force's Grand redoubt Borodino game under the General de Brigade Forum.

ASPERN-ESSLING: Salute 2012

See the Gallery thread for a selection of photos by Joe Dever of Loughton Strike Force's Aspern-Essling Demo Game from Salute 2012.

The game received the Salute Challenger Award, (runner-up to the very fine Corunna game, which was the overall show winner.)

ASPERN-ESSLING SALUTE GAME

See the thread in the Gallery section for a selection of photos of the Aspern-Essling 15mm game to be put on at Salute 2012 by Loughton Strike Force.

WARGAMES HOLIDAY CENTRE GAMES

Some GdeB dates for your 2012 Diary!

The Wargames Holiday Centre 2012.
January
20-22 Battle of Eylau (Nap) (GdB)
April
6th – 8th Battle of Wagram (Nap) (GdB)
July
20th-22nd Battle of Salamanca (Nap) (GdB)
August
24th-26th Battle of Dresden (Nap) (GdB)

For full details contact Mark Freeth http://www.wargameshc.co.uk/

Tel: 01256 323332.

GENERAL DE BRIGADE SCENARIOS VOL 5

The full colour General de Brigade Scenarios Vol 5 - Wellingtons Victories is now available from Caliver Books.

It contains 11 Peninsular War scenarios from Vimiero in 1808 through to Toulouse in 1814.

For more info see the GdeB forum thread.

Battlegroup PanzerGrenadier Vol 3 Battles for the Mediterranean Scenarios

Battlegroup PanzerGrenadier Vol 3 Battles for the Mediterranean scenarios are now available from Caliver Books!
See the Battlegroup PanzerGrenadier forum and thread for more info.

BORODINO AT THE WARGAMES HOLIDAY CENTRE

On Friday October 21st fourteen players descend upon the Wargames Holiday Centre, now relocated to sunny Basingstoke, for a Russian vs. French Battle of Borodino rematch using General de Brigade rules.

See the General de Brigade thread for a full AAR!

BRITISH GRENADIER DELUXE EDITION!

The Deluxe Edition of British Grenadier AWI Rules is nearly here!

British Grenadier rules permit players to take command of the forces battling in America as the thirteen colonies struggle for independence.

You can deploy the regiments and guns on the battlefield of that era making the decisions that decided the fate of a continent!

GENERAL DE BRIGADE DELUXE

See the General de Brigade Deluxe thread in the General de Brigade forum for rules changes.

GdeB Deluxe scenarios and articles appearing in Wargames Illustrated and Miniature Wargames magazines in the near future.

GENERAL DE BRIGADE DELUXE

General de Brigade Deluxe Edition is here with an official release date for Colours in September!

GdeB has been revisited and revised with an emphasis on speeding up game play and game resolutions whilst still ensuring the core principles of Napoleonic tactical combat are acknowledged and enhanced.

New rule areas include:

Command and Control and Generals ability to launch charges.

Tactical Marches

Formation Tests for such situations such as interpenetration and infantry winning melees.

Third Rank Skirmishers

Grand Batteries and

Broken Brigades

And Victory & Defeat - to name a few.

£27.50 for the full colour hardback edition.

£39.50 for the gold embossed limited edition (Nice!)

Both available from Caliver Books.

I'll be at Colours and SELWG demo-ing the new edition.

BUSACO AT SALUTE 2010

Loughton Strike Force presented Busaco at Salute this year.

See the thread on the General de Brigade forum for more photos.

ASPERN-ESSLING

Following the dawning of 2010 we decided to continue with the 1809 bicentenary celebrations and refight Aspern-Essling!
This was also a good opportunity to test may of the proposed Deluxe General de Brigade Rules
The refight did not disappoint and distinctly followed in the footsteps of its historical precedent!

There was a most desperate struggle for the village of Aspern, especially around the Church, which eventually fell to the Austrians. While the village of Essling proved an even more difficult conquest for the Austrians battalions. Three times they stormed Essling, only to be driven out in turn, by first Boudets garrison, then the Young Guard and then finally the Old Guard! However the Granary, manned by a gallant French elite battalion held out, at times in complete isolation, despite repeated Austrian attempts to storm the stronghold.

In the end Austrian numbers told, and with more and more white coated columns deploying onto the field, the French were forced to throw in their heavy cavalry reserves in order to gain time for an ordered retreat over the Danube! The Austrians countered with their numerous cavalry reserves (which included a splendid charge by Hessen-Hombergs kurassiers in riding down an entire French infantry brigade) and so forced the French army to retire! (Again!)

WAGRAM AT WELLINGTON BARRACKS

All,

Wagram was refought at last weekend in the Guards Officers Mess at Wellington Barracks, London.

25 players joined to refight this truly immense struggle on a table stretching over 35 feet, with over 12,000 15mm figures!

Rules were General de Brigade and all units were at 1:20 figure scale.

Player contributions saw the event raise £600 for the Colonels Fund 1st Bn. Grenadier Guards for wounded guardsmen.

See the Wagram game thread under the General de Brigade forum for more.

DB

BATTLEGROUP PANZERGRENADIER 2ND EDITION

2nd Edition Panzer-Grenadier remains firmly based on the original fire and movement mechanisms however there are differences in several areas, especially command and control.
New Command & Control!Completely new command and control rules permit players to attempt wider activation of units and Combat Groups within their Battlegroups, now influenced directly by the presence of command units, national ability and "command pressure" from the Battlegroup HQ.

The 1st Edition's sole reliance on Command Points for Combat Group activation has been replaced with an Activation Table which now relies on Command Units to activate Combat Groups and to allow for HQ Command Points to assist with these activation attempts. Those units without command may now only be activated as individual units (with the required assistance of a Command Point if they are not specialist troops), thereby placing a heavier emphasis upon the importance of command and the chain of command within the rules.
Thus the more flexible and well lead German army will have the ability to activate a good number of Combat Groups, while the less effective armies, such as the Russians, will find it harder to activate multiple Combat Groups. These armies will need to rely more heavily on activating the fewer Senior Command Units to move large numbers of troops, in order to achieve their aims.

Command Decisions! Players should not expect all their units to be activated each turn and are still forced to make command decisions as to where to concentrate command effort. Thus unrealistic situations where every single unit on the wargames table is permitted to move and fire without restriction are still avoided within the 2nd Edition.

Uncertainty is also introduced within the game turn, as any double one activation attempt automatically generates a Command Confusion result which provides the opponent with an opportunity to seize the initiative and immediately end the current players phase.

New Rules for Artillery; Machine Guns & AT Guns! Greater emphasis has also been placed on the historical differences between armies, for instance the revised artillery rules reflect each major nation's artillery doctrine and unique usage, while new rules covering MG area fire have also been included. Other new aspects include an intensive fire option for anti-guns and self-propelled guns, this increased fire rate now gives greater consideration to the threat such weapons posed to tanks on the battlefield. This greater emphasis on weapon and national differences will require commanders to play to the strengths of their particular Battlegroup, accepting that while they may be weak in one area they can take advantages of their strengths in other areas.

Japanese! Finally new rules and equipment lists have been introduced for the Japanese, enabling players to expand into the Asian and Pacific theatres.

Players will find the 2nd Edition more comprehensive but it nonetheless maintains a fluid game mechanism that still provides for a good range of "realistic" outcomes. The emphasis of Battlegroup Panzer-Grenadier is still firmly based on playability, after all wargamers usually prefer to see their miniatures on the table top and actually have something to shoot at during the course of a game!

The basic game tactical unit is the infantry section or squad supported by armoured fighting vehicles, artillery and ground attack aircraft. The rules are written for use with 15mm or 20mm figures, though work perfectly well for smaller scales.

Includes quick reference section, unit markers, templates and army lists plus 4 scenarios.

Available from Caliver Books @ £19.50.

SALUTE 2009 - STORMING THE REICHSTAG

This years LSF game at Salute was a Battlegroup PanzerGrenadier scenario - Storming the Reichstag. See the BGPG thread for more photos.

General de Brigade Scenarios 4

General de Brigade Scenario Book 4: Against the Ottomans is now available:

BRITISH GRENADIER!

See the current issue of Battlegames (Issue 16) for a fascinating scenario & write up of the two-day refight of the Battle for Long Island 1776.

WW2: ARNHEM CORRIDOR

A large Battlegroup PanzerGrenadier WW2 rules game recreating the action along the Arnhem Corridor as XXX Corps attempts to capture the Nijmegen Bridge and push onto Arnhem.

More on the Battlegroup PanzerGrenadier forum.

Battlegroup PanzerGrenadier: Operation Bagration Colours 2008

For a full report of the Battlegroup PanzerGrenadier Operation Bagration game put on at the Colours show - see the Battlegroup PanzerGrenadier forum.

Die Kriegskunst: Wargaming the Seven Years War

It's finally out!! Time to start painting a few SYW armies! Well done to to Angus Konstam & Dougie Trail for their efforts. As usual the rules are available via Caliver Books. Enjoy.