Thursday, April 30, 2015

A small town in Quattri Formaggi...


Brigadier Charmant mustered his troops at the Formaggian shore after a series of successful raids against the seaports. He's had three galloper guns, five battalions of skirmisher infantry and three large hussar squadrons, the famous Hussards Bleus included.

He had good reconnaisance - despite his old age, he was a cunning light infantry officer, just the man the Glambrian court needed for the job. Therefore he knew well that Condottiere Lasciato was marching against him with five battalions of line foot, four guns, three dragoon and one cuirassier units - whether they were oversized squadrons or small regiments, he could not tell.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Suillen Shelf


It was the beginning days of the invasion of Île-de-Suillen. A large number of Glambrian troops embarked on all sorts of vessels, mainly Glambrian East India Company frigates hired by the crown, to retake that small spot of land in the middle of the sea. 
The wind favored the attackers, and in a short while they were in sight of Île-de-Suillen. A fast-sailing cutter emerged from the isle and sailed towards the Formaggian shores: the Formaggian Western Fleet was alerted. The Glambrian navy successfully intercepted the intervening enemies while the transport ships, too weak to put up a fight against a ship of the line, continued their way under full sail.

Friday, April 24, 2015

The Île-de-Suillen Campaign

We are taken back in time again, on this occasion to the Formaggian invasion of the Glambrian Île-de-Suillen. The island is currently under Formaggian control, but has originally been part of the Glambrian crown's lands. A fleet carrying a large amount of troops starts an invasion. The (usurping) Chancellorette Beatrice Schiavona has, by now, consolidated the Formaggian hinterlands, so she has a sufficient number of loyal troops available. 

Île-de-Suillen (Isola de Suillen) is almost halfway from both the Glambrian and the Formaggian shores. It has a strategical importance as a naval base. The Glambrians feel that despite their latest failures against the Protestant Duchy of Armagnac, their cooperating army and navy could capture the island; another reason the government wants it back is that it could serve not only to control the surrounding seas, but as a base for an island-hopping operation against the island of Luprec that is under the Duchy's control.

Île-de-Suillen in the centre; the Glambrian (purple) shore to the west, the Formaggian (yellow) to the east.


If you visit the 'Basic info' page you can see that there is no result stated in the chronology tied to this event, so the series of battles will decide the canonical version. The fort on the map is in Glambrian colors, but we'll see about that.

I'm going to use the 'Flossian' 6mm army for Glambrians and 'Schultze-Böhnstadt' for QF. Naval action will be fought with my fresh 1/4800 scale fleets.

Battle #1.
Takes place near the Western Suillen Shelf
Engagement: Naval
Rules: Kiss Me Hardy

A full-on engagement between two large fleets of ships of the line. The Glambrians have better ships and crews while the alerted QF Navy has more vessels.

Battle #2.
Engagement: Land (Irregular vs. Regular)
Rules: Maurice
A brigade of Glambrian units lands on the western shore of the Formaggian peninsula to divert troops from the relief of the island. They are almost completely irregular units that intend to plunder the coastal towns and cause chaos to tie the Formaggians down. However, their area of operations is limited so they must stand battle against a regular QF force. 

Battle #3.
Engagement: Naval
Rules: Kiss Me Hardy
A unit of well-trained Formaggian privateers (on frigates) plays their own trick against the Glambrians as they lure the frigates part of the blockade away from the island so the relief force could land.

Battle #4. 
Engagement: Land + Naval support
Rules: Maurice
Île-de-Suillen itself is protected by a small fort. Despite the efforts on the seas and the mainland, a Formaggian brigade reached the island, but a storm forced them to disembark further to the north - now they must reach the fort in time and lift the siege.
Most of the Glambrian navy sailed away to chase the privateers, but a heavy frigate remains to provide support (activated as an artillery formation of 3 cannon).