Raid on a Munitions Dump - 02 Hundred Hours.

Overview

02 Hundred Hours is a skirmish wargame focusing on night-time raids in World War II. Inspired by classic war movies as well as historical events, battles are fast paced with roughly 10-20 models on either side.

https://greyfornow.com/pages/02-hundred-hours

Three of the four players were new to the rule system, and once the table was laid and the mechanics explained, it was time for the teams to formulate their plans. The mission objectives for the game were to set explosives on armoured vehicles and supply dump, and to take a German officer prisoner.

Infiltration was via either long board edge (left and right sides of picture above) and exit was to be to the left hand side through the trees.

One munitions dump was in the barn, guarded Gendarme pairs who patrolled the area including cutting through the trees.

All other objectives were in or to the front of the farmhouse, again with Heer sentries patrolling. Three dog units were also on roving patrol to begin with.

The commandos split their forces, bringing on a single pair through the trees to target the tanks…

whilst sniper, bren-gun support and both officer characters came on by the rocks on the opposite long edge.

A first approach to the rear of the farmhouse by an officer resulted in a dead dog handler, having been put down by a silenced weapon before he could raise the alarm.

However, a German officer on the lower floor saw an attacker shortly afterwards and killed him outright by shooting through the window.

By this time the alarm had gone off, and the defenders decided to drive all of their resources towards the farmhouse, which was where the main thrust of the attack seemed to be.

The second allied character - a sergeant with extra hand-to-hand abilities - successfully entered the farmhouse via the backdoor, surprising the pistol-toting officer within.

Several rounds of hand-to-hand combat ensued, with a second German officer supporting the first with an SMG.

Still the sergeant battled on, his particular set of skills causing several ‘trauma’ events on both Germans. At this point it felt like the entire game was taking place in the ground floor of one building, with both sides wishing for ‘character’ counters before the other side could attack! Eventually though the poor sergeant paid the ultimate price, being gunned down having used up his action chits early on in the round but not winning the fight outright.

Such a valiant action bought time for another team of attackers to set demolition charges by the tanks, in a hope of salvaging a minor victory by achieving at least one objective. The last minute production of an axis ‘event card’ made the explosives blow up immediately however, killing the demolition team at the same time.

At this point it became clear that the mission was not going to yield any further successes, and the remainder of the attacking force withdrew without further loss. The defenders had succeeded in repelling the worst of the attack, resulting in a minor victory for the Germans.

More importantly, we all had a good laugh at the nail biting moments, and everyone enjoyed the game. Indeed, one player claimed to be a ‘convert’, vowing to procure a set of the rules for himself. Job done, in my opinion. 

Italian Wars, Battle of Cerignola, 28th April 1503 - Swordpoint Second Edition.

Editors Note: 

With the Italian Wars featuring large in the club this year and with Mr Stephen H. volunteering (note - a volunteer is worth ten pressed men) to organise Pavia 1525, for this year's Gus Murchie Memorial Game in December, it's time to start warming up a set of rules and filling gaps in figure collections to make sure everything is ready for the year ahead.

Thus to get things warmed-up Stephen has set the scene for our Italian Wars theme with a brief history of events surrounding our refight of the battle of Cerignola, in Apulia part of the then Kingdom of Naples.

 

The Italian Wars, Background

Italy was rich by comparison to the rest of Western Europe and warfare was not destructive to prosperity. Modern banking and double-entry book keeping created riches by the pen, not the sword, however all this changed when King Charles VIII of France invaded in 1494 to secure his claims to The Duchy of Milan and The Kingdom of Naples; from then on Italy was plagued by warfare as other competing European powers wanted their slice of the cake too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_War_of_1494%E2%80%931495

First French Campaign

In 1494, the 22 year old glory-hungry, King Charles crossed into Italy to press his claims. The French had a powerful army composing of traditional aristocratic cavalry, a modern artillery train (one on wheels) and with the support of Swiss mercenary infantry. 

Portrait of King Charles VIII of France (1470–1498),
wearing the Collar of the Order of Saint Michael - Artist unknown

The ruler of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, was unpopular with his subjects and the French soon overran his Duchy, but Naples at the far end of the Italian peninsula, was a more difficult proposition. By a combination of threats, inducements and the support of The Pope, King Charles marched his army the length of Italy and captured Naples from King Ferdinand, who was related to the Spanish Royal House of Aragon. 

Holding Naples was another matter however and the next year the French loaded up their loot and set off north. En route, they fought an Italian army at Fornova, where with both sides claimed victory. With Charles now back in France his conquests were soon lost as Sforza and Ferdinand re-established their domains. Charles died childless, possibly by poisoning, in 1498 and was succeeded by his cousin Louis XII.

Cesare Borgia

Politically The Pope, Alexander VI (aka Rodrego Borgia), welcomed the French involvement in Italy as

he regarded the Napolitans as a threat to The Papal State. 

Alexander VI (Borgia, 1492-1503) - Attributed to Pedro Berruguete

One of Pope Alexander’s ambitions was to bring the Papal State into tighter control, and when his son Giovanni and commander of The Papal Army, was murdered in 1497, Cesare, a man of unbridled ambition, took over. 

Cesare Borgia (1475-1507) 

Unknown author probably after a portrait by Bartolomeo Veneto

Knowing the French ambitions in Italy, Cesare immediately visited France to ingratiate himself, as he needed French support for his ambitions as much as the French needed his father’s support for theirs. Cesare couldn’t inherit the papal lands from his father, so he set about carving out a state for himself from them and other adjacent states, thus caught between French and Cesare’s ambitions, the other Italian states were in a difficult position.

Second French Campaign

King Louis XII was in his thirties, an experienced commander, administrator and survivor. His cousin

Charles had been trying to do him down for years; not content with his Italian ambition Charles engaged in a dynastic struggle with Louis’ branch of the French royal family, and on assuming the throne Charles arranged the marriage of his crippled and infertile sister to Louis. 

When besieged in Italy, as part of the Milan campaign, Charles had been tardy in relieving Louis, and on top of that Charles had refused to make Louis, The Duke of Milan and had instead sent him to Normandy where he was subsequently investigated for wrong-doing, thus in this venomous internecine environment, poisoning your cousin is a minor matter.

Louis XII, King of France (1462-1515) - from the Workshop of Jean Perréal

Haughty French aristocrats sneered at Louis’ practical manners calling him common but Louis didn’t

care, he was king now. By reducing state expenditure and increasing tax revenue, Louis soon raised

the finances to campaign in Italy and reassert what his cousin had won but so quickly lost. 

Louis overcame Ludavico Sforza whom had re-established himself as Duke of Milan again and then set

about consolidating his rule over the Duche, but his biggest problem was a dispute with the Swiss, partly over wages and partly because part of The Milanese Duchy wanted to join the Swiss cantons.

 

Louis, a man who knew how far a duct went, and also that Swiss mercenary infantry were vital for

his next campaign reluctantly settled his Swiss troops wage demands and then the Swiss Diet’s demands for territorial concessions. 

Louis now turned to Naples and marched south. However rather than fight, a political solution was

brokered. Naples would be Louis’ but Southern Italy would remain under the King Ferdinand; such a

solution could only be temporary at best and Louis returned to France, leaving Naples under his

Viceroy.

The Spanish

In 1502, King Ferdinand seeing Louis and Cesare sufficiently engaged elsewhere decided, it was time

to test the French in the South; and so Spanish reinforcements were shipped into the kingdom and by the end of the year the Spanish were gaining the upper hand. 

General Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (1453-1515), 

nicknamed the Great Captain - Eduardo Carrio

Louis tried for a compromise formula involving the engagement of his infant daughter Princess Claude to the Spanish heir Prince Charles, with the view that on their majority, both would become the rulers of Naples; unfortunately nobody seemed to have told the Spanish General Gonzalo de Cordoba though, who continued to campaign with increasing success.

The Borgia Collapse

These campaigns cost a fortune, and in the past a state could campaign only for so long, before the annual tax revenue was exhausted. With the advent of modern banking and accurate book-keeping, credit was now available on an unimagined scale. However, while armies could be supplied and equipped on credit, secured against future years tax revenue, the soldiers still demanded payment in coin. 

“Money Money Money, it’s an Italian World…” Golden Florins

To raise the necessary coin and pay for Cesare’s ambitions, Alexander expanded the size of the College

of Cardenal’s at a going rate per new cardinal; this was outright simony and a clear violation of cannon law, not that Alexander’s scruples were bothered. 

The older cardinals were outraged and before long Alexander and Cesare both fell ill from some mysterious ailment (aka poisoning). Alexander died and Cesare was so debilitated, he was never the same man again. At the next papal conclave, a compromise candidate was chosen, but this new pope was old and died six months later. At the next conclave the anti-Borgia party was ready; the new pope Julius II hated the Borgias.

With the end of the Borgia papacy Cesare’s ambitions were doomed and the position of Louis’

Neapolitan viceroy untenable. Isolated from reinforcements, dislike by the population, and increasing

Spanish boldness would result in the loss of Naples, followed by that of Milan not long afterwards.

The next French king, Francis II, will campaign in Italy to re-establish his claim to Milan, but that is

something for another day. Naples however was now firmly in the grip of Spain.

Battle of Cerignola, 28th April 1503

So to our Cerignola refight, a battle fought on the 28th April 1503 between Spanish and French armies outside the town of Cerignola, Apulia, Kingdom of Naples (now in modern-day Italy), approximately fifty miles west of Bari.

The Spanish force under the command of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (El Gran Capitán) comprising around 9,000 men, including 2,000 Landsknecht pikemen, 1,000 arquebusiers and 20 cannons, defeated the French force of 9,000 men, mainly gendarme heavy cavalry and Swiss mercenary pikemen, with about 40 cannons, led by Louis d'Armagnac, Duke of Nemours, who was killed during the battle.

The two armies are arrayed as per the usual interpretations of the battle illustrated in the map below with our Spanish forces on the slopes before the town that has the Spanish infantry and guns deployed behind a defensive ditch with their cavalry covering the flanks.

Our game coincides with the launch of a new title from Helion that covers Cerignola
https://www.helion.co.uk/military-history-books/the-italian-wars-volume-5-the-franco-spanish-war-in-southern-italy-1502-1504.php

Meanwhile the French with their Swiss pike blocks mirror the Spanish setup prepared to advance towards the slope and fight their way over the ditch covered by their cavalry.

The rules we used for this game was Swordpoint Second Edition together with its various rule additions to facilitate games from this era.

https://www.grippingbeast.co.uk/SWORDPOINT.html

For my part, I had the pleasure of commanding the Spanish cavalry out on their right flank under Mendoza and not having played Swordpoint for quite a while was keen to push the rules to see what they would create as a game for this particular period.

As you can see the Italian Wars rival Napoleonics in terms of colour and dress extravagance that provides a feast for the eye, with unlike say the Wars of the Roses, plenty of cavalry of all types taking their place alongside splendidly dressed infantry.

The French stat-sheet for our game

Thus mine and indeed the Spanish cavalry out on the left flank rode out to contest the advance of our French adversaries as the missile troops of both sides set about each other in the early exchanges.

Similarly, as with the French, the Spanish stat-sheet.

This saw mounted crossbows, and javelin armed Jinetes skirmishing against the French left flank as opposing foot crossbowmen and arquebusiers let fly whilst the Spanish guns played on the French centre.

The skirmishing and cavalry jousts had its effect in stymying the French advance and thus keeping them under the play of the Spanish guns longer than they would have preferred, with the Spanish cavalry on my flank particularly fortunate to maintain themselves longer than they could have expected, forcing the deployment of the armoured heavies to maintain the position a little longer.

However the advance of the Swiss pike phalanxes would not be denied and with the Spanish cavalry forced back on its own lines, the French centre pressed on into the Spanish centre for an assault across the ditch in the face of musketry and cannon shot.

The use of initiative chits during combat together with saving throws on hits scored ensure a game of struggle and push and shove before one side gains the upper hand over the other with both sets of players gainfully employed through the turns.

We had six players involved in our game, three a side, and the turns seemed to move along at a good pace, making the rules a contender for use with a big club game like the one planned for the end of the year.

The Spanish were in a lot of trouble as we called a close to our game with French cavalry starting to dominate both flanks and a fierce fight going on over the ditch in the Spanish centre.

My thanks to Stephen H and Chas who pulled the game together in the run up to Xmas last year, making sure their respective collections could facilitate our game, and to Vince, Steve M, Bob and John R for the fun of playing it.

JJ

'It's the Battle of the Alma Jim, but not as we know it!'

 

Editors Note:

A great start to 2025 saw us enjoying four games for the first meeting in January with a second meeting to take place in two weeks time as part of the club now running two meetings a month from January to April to satisfy the demand for games with the larger club membership we now enjoy.

Our first meeting for 2025 saw the club hosting four games for this the first meeting of two in January. 

So over to the first game AAR for 2025, here presented by David using his marvellous collection of 18mm Napoleonics.

I was lucky enough to visit the Crimea in October 2000. The country had only recently opened its doors to the West and Crimean War tourism was in its infancy. 

View North from the Great Battery

It was not unusual to be presented with a bag full of minié bullets or case shot for a few dollars. The camps were covered with little impressions where a zealous local had scoured the area with a metal detector. 

Ledge on the South Bank of the Alma

The depressions of the tent lines could clearly be seen in the camps and nails, broken metal clasps and bottles littered the ground. Alas, modern development has obliterated the camp sites, commercialism has taken hold and the present situation precludes any chance of visiting. As I said, I was lucky.

Looking South towards the Great Redoubt White Monument

The Alma battlefield was largely untouched. The greater and lesser redoubt were still clearly visible and apart from the Alma being now a stream, no longer with orchards and vineyards on its northern banks, and the villages having grown in size, one could easily trace the course of the battle. What had the greatest effect on me was the small ledge on the southern banks of the Alma behind which the Allied advance faltered. It took considerable courage by the officers who climbed up the ledge and stood on the top, urging their men forward. When I climbed the ledge, I appreciated the reluctance of the infantryman to advance. About 300yards distance, across a glacis devoid of cover, was the Great Battery. It is hard to describe the feeling of total vulnerability felt.

So all this rambling led me to running a game centred around this area of the battlefield. There were a number of interesting things I wanted to try to replicate in the game. I wanted to tie the hands of the British cavalry commander. Raglan was very protective of his cavalry and wanted them kept in ‘a band box’. I also wanted to replicate Raglan’s foray into the Russian position and personally directing the fire of a battery he ordered to the spot, firing into the Russian flank and rear. 

Then there was the inequality of firearms, the British with the ability to fire at a greater range than their advisories. Added to this the inequality of command and control, I thought this would make for an interesting game.

I don’t have a Crimean War collection, but I thought I could get away with using my 1812 Russian and French Army. With any luck, I’d be under the Chairman’s radar and his historical feathers wouldn’t get too ruffled.

Using Nigel Marsh’s (creator of Carnage and Glory) formula of 10 units per hour’s play, I concocted the order of battle loosely based on the order of battle in Ian Fletcher and Natalia Ishcenko’s excellent book The Battle of the Alma. An opportunity also arose for the old Guard to get stuck in for once.

Deployment forced most of the Russians to deploy before the British, no, no, I meant French.

The French then had to endure several turns of bombardment before they could commence movement. 

A general advance was ordered and I issued two orders to the French side.

To the Commander in Chief:

You and a small retinue have crossed the river to the west of the village of Bourliouk and find yourself on a small hillock overlooking the left rear of the Enemy position. You decide this is a most excellent position for a battery and you order one to deploy on this spot. You will direct its fire.

The French commander was somewhat bemused but obediently trotted off the battlefield leaving his Brigade commanders to fend for themselves. To be honest, I don’t think they noticed. They all passed their command and control with ease- except the Guard Brigade.

To the Cavalry Brigade Officer:

You are ordered to preserve the Cavalry as in a Band Box and to undertake Defensive action only

The Cavalry commander was understandably less than happy with his order, but pressed home an attack with his Guards Brigade, who had no success, losing their Brigade commander in the process. It was going to be one of those days. The Russian line held. The centres were fairly equally matched and a series of inconclusive firefights ran through game. 

The imposing Russian Cavalry Brigade got its nose well blooded when it charged the French light infantry. For the rest of the day they were largely ignored by the Russian commander who was busily engaged elsewhere. They did do a useful job of tying down the French Light Infantry Brigade - whose orders had been to tie down the Russian Cavalry. The French commanders now positioned himself on a hillock in the Russian left rear and was happily lobbing shot and shell into unsuspecting Russian units.

The situation was met with a shrug of acceptance and the Russian command missed the opportunity to send his Cossack retinue to investigate the annoyance. He was understandably preoccupied with the flames erupting from Bourliouk village and the forced withdrawal of his left flank from a panicking Brigade order.

The Guards Brigade were also discomforted by the flames which were now starting to consume the orchard. Spurred on by the flames in their rear, they closed to close range and another musketry duel ensued. The smoke drifting across the battlefield obscured the sight of the Great Redoubt. 

I was going to manufacture a reduced casualty rate because of the obscured vision of the gunners but there was no need as the Russian Battery commander consistently rolled low causing minimal casualties. 

The French centre launched an attack and succeeded in pushing back the Russian centre. The French left was enjoying less success and was receiving flanking fire from the Great Redoubt and the Russian Horse Artillery, which forced two of the French Battalions to the rear in disorder.

Both sides were teetering on the brink of Army morale failure, but it was the Russians who blinked first, the French passing their morale by a whisker.

And the French Light Cavalry? The frustration shown was evident and justified. 

Lord Lucan or should that be 'Look On' 
played by Harry Andrews in the 1968 film
'Charge of the Light Brigade'

Maybe we should look more kindly on Lord 'Look On' who similarly had his hands tied. Understanding the handling of the cavalry at the Alma goes some way to understanding the debacle of a month later, on October 25th.

Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava on 25th October 1854 in the Crimean War - William Simpson

I wonder if I could recreate that scenario - without the players throwing the toys out of the pram?

My thanks to Lawrence, Ian, Nathan, Sam, Mike and Paul, who made my life so easy by never asking ‘Why?’ and played the game with such good humour and tolerance.

Figs AB

Buildings TimeCast

Mat. Tiny Wargames